NFU sounds almost like an expletive, and the Armed Forces of India have been led to believe that the second and third letters signify what is being doled out to them. The attitude of Govt of India, represented by the babus has been very negative all along towards this great institution, for no fault of theirs. They have pulled every trick in their hat to deny the clueless faujis their dues over the nearly eight odd decades since independence.
So what exactly is this NFU, well it stands for ‘Non Functional Upgradation’, i.e. since promotional avenues were limited for the government bureaucracy due to the supposed stagnation in higher ranks, their cadre is promised this boost in their emoluments equivalent to their contemporaries. To illustrate if the first person from the batch of 2009 is promoted to the level of Joint Secretary in May 2026, then all persons belonging to this batch get the emoluments and are placed in the same grade pay 14 of the Joint Secretary in May 2028. This way, the hierarchy ensures there is no heartburn for missed out promotions, as irrespective of your performance, your pay and perks stay protected. This is ostensibly to compensate them, the concept though flawed, as there are literally no performance based incentives, but it does serve the purpose of keeping them happy.
The reason behind the denial of NFU to Indian Armed Forces lies probably in the nomenclature itself. Since it is ‘Non Functional’ in nature, so the only functional organisation can’t obviously be a beneficiary. Either we change it to ‘functional upgradation’, but then the ‘non-functional’ organs can’t be included in that. This Catch 22 situation is what is keeping the Forces at bay. In other words, the incentive for us is to convert our organisation also into a non functional one, then and only then will we be eligible for the award.
Armed Forces have steepest pyramid, even at the cost of sounding cliched, I must reiterate, but the fact is, the promotional avenues in the Armed Forces are severely restricted owing to the structure of the organisation itself. There can be only one General, Air Chief Marshal or Admiral, you can’t possibly have a General for Logistics, General for Intelligence, General for Operations, General for Procurements and so on, as their brethren in the civil hierarchy; I believe they have DG Police Fire, DGP Anti-Corruption Bureau, DGP Rescue Work, DGP Housing and so on. They have no qualms in sanctioning additional posts which they create not because there is a genuine need, but to adjust their bloating hierarchy.
Be that as it may, the tug of war will continue, while the Armed Forces face functional challenges in their day to day operational duty, merely because of this oneupmanship. Post independence to clip the wings of the Armed Forces, the govt turned a blind eye to the blatant usurping of the rank insignia, i.e. stars, flags and epaulette badges of the officer cadre, thereby establishing a parity merely by donning of these rank badges and flying these flags. Then as their organisations grew, the officer cadres expanded and the equivalence of ranks kept getting diluted. Army wasn’t concerned, happy in their own cocoon, till the curse of militancy hit us, when civil military interactions and cooperation became a necessity.
The enhanced grade pay structure which too kept inching up almost surreptitiously, as when we were commissioned, our pay scale was 2300- 5000, running from 2Lt to Brigadier, while all Group A services started at 2200. But in subsequent pay commissions, today, with 7th pay commission, it stands at 56000 for all at the same starting block and with much faster promotion, they climb to the grade pay of 14 in just 17 years of service, when only about 25% of their armed forces compatriots are in grade pay 13, the rest are in grade pay 12. The balance 75% will attain grade pay 13 with 26 years of service and retire from there itself. Only about 10% of them will reach grade pay 14 by about 27 years of service, when their civilian counterparts have already been there for about 10 years. The complete civilian cadre is at grade pay 14 with NFU for eight years.
Operationally there have been a number of occasions when much junior civilians officials who by virtue of enjoying a better grade pay (curtesy NFU) have thumbed their noses at the Army Officers of the rank of Colonel/Brigadier and above. The issue thus is not just finances but also of status and that is evident in the recent occurrences, where serving Army officers have been ill treated by the police officials with impunity. Unless the status is restored, this malaise which runs deep will create deep fault lines in the country as also end up demoralising the last bastion of this nation.
6 thoughts on “NFU : THE BANE OF ARMED FORCES”
Brilliant take on a classic example of “institutional capture by design”. Two bureaucracies at play; one the clever, manipulative version and the other, reticent, naive
sad
Great piece of writing, sir. You’ve addressed a very sensitive issue regarding NFU for the Armed Forces.
In my view, if budget constraints are a concern, then perhaps NFU should be reconsidered or abolished uniformly for all. If, from the very beginning of a government career, an individual knows that promotions are assured irrespective of performance, it may reduce motivation for many. Only a few would continue to work with dedication, while the majority might become passive, simply waiting for the next pay level.
Regards
A very sad state of affairs.The bureaucracy has played games in connivance with some black sheep’s in our org since independence .
A very well captured article Suyash.
My Take – NFU is not about the pay for Civil officers, it never was, it was the grade and status. They always felt lower than a better-placed junior Armed Forces offr so they got NFU and have a higher grade. Higher grade means TA/DA, allces, accn, and finally pension while he may retire at basic of grade 6/7 but will be considered as Grade 14 /14A because of NFU. Forces org has an inbuilt structure att with each rank and in two streams, Comd & Staff. CAPF and civil bureaucracy do not have anything like this, so they can justify DG Prisons or DG HG and Secy security, Spl secy Security, etc. We need to change the strategy in 8th CPC the NFU will be addl pay while the grade stays at basic pay at par with all services under GoI – something on these lines when their grade gets axed they may feel the heat. Lets see.
👍 nice
I think first we need to resolve or solve the functional issue between MES PARA MILITARY AND ARMY.
A solution can be that army appointments when being equated with sister services should take into account service of officers / appointment and not basic pay .This should resolve issues during conferences and meetings.
With police and bureaucracy , needs lot of deliberation .
As for as NFU is concerned, let each organization decide for itself.
very unfortunate that Armed Forces have to take their fight for NFU to courts. Surely, someday it will be granted in some form.