New Delhi: Lieutenant Colonels who are not in the best of psychological health because of alcoholism or any form of substance abuse will no longer be promoted as ‘time-scale Colonels’ by the Army, no matter how exceptionally they perform, ThePrint has learnt.
Time-scale Colonels are those Army officers who are given the rank after completing 26 years in service. Lt Colonels are eligible for promotion as Colonels after 16-18 years in service, but often miss the bus owing to a lack of vacancies or because they fail to clear the promotion board. These candidates are promoted as time-scale Colonels after 26 years.
Time-scale Colonels write the letters ‘TS’ against their rank.
The amended promotion rules were issued by the Personnel and Services Department of the Army last month.
The bar on promotions, a top Army source told ThePrint, will not apply if the cause of psychological issues is determined to be something else, like a stressful home situation, the loss of a loved one, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
The psychological scale
The mental health of Army officers is determined through a five-point scale that runs from S1 to S5, where S1 constitutes the fittest one can be. These are ascertained by military psychiatrists. Qualification as S5, Army officials explained, leads to disqualification.
According to the Army’s tweaked promotion rules, Lt Colonels found to be in the “S2” category of psychological or mental health because of alcoholism or substance abuse will not be eligible for promotion, even if they have good Annual Confidential Reports (ACRs), which document a candidate’s performance, and are medically fit otherwise (vision, hearing, overall physiology, etc).
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A steep pyramid
Colonels constitute the fifth rung of the hierarchy among Army officers, after Lieutenant, Captain, Major and Lieutenant Colonel.
The first four ranks are determined by the time personnel spend in the force: They are commissioned as Lieutenants, become Captains after two years of service, Majors after six years, and Lieutenant Colonels after 13 years.
After that, the hierarchy becomes steep, and promotion is incumbent on vacancies — when a Colonel is promoted as Brigadier or retires.
Lt Colonels thus get two kinds of promotions: One is ‘selection grade’ promotion, which takes place after a candidate completes 16 to 18 years of commissioned service. Candidates at this stage have to appear before a promotion board. As many as 50 per cent of Lt Colonels are not promoted as Colonels after the promotion board.
Those who are not empanelled as Colonels at this time are promoted as time-scale Colonels after 26 years of commissioned service, subject to consistently high ACRs and medical fitness.
So far, promotion as time-scale colonels was considered relatively more relaxed.
Another senior Army official said the measure was meant to put emphasis on the health of Army personnel.
“Most Lt Colonels miss being empanelled not because of reasons under their control, but because of lack of vacancies,” the official said. “This move will keep them motivated to take care of their health and fitness.”
Psychological health remains an important concern for armed forces personnel, who work under extreme work conditions and stress. This also reflects in the number of suicides involving military personnel in India.
Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said in a written reply to Parliament this year that 104 military personnel committed suicide in 2018.
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This should actually not be publicised. It’s an internal army matter.
Only for Lt Colonels So everyone above and below that rank is free to booze as much as they want? This article places an un-necessary emphasis on this rule as if it’s only for lieutenant Colonels.
It is applicable for all ranks across the board. You have to be in an acceptable medical category to be promoted. Both mentally as well as physically.
Why single out Lt Colonels? Mental health fitness is applicable for all ranks from a recruit to a general !
You couldn’t have been far from TRUTH ,to say the least . Since such exalted sermons flow from a higher table to mere mortals down the line ,the best ACTION PLAN should be to curtail the liquor quota to big ZERO from the obnoxious 4* to 1* . Equally true to the salt ALL PBOR’s to be taken off from liquor quota rules untill & specified by the unit medical officer ,in & ONLY in field areas . I think that should be an INCENTIVE to such mortals NOT to crib too much ….
Well said Mr Laxman Rana. Good insight too!!
No nffu… Only reserved for paramilitary, ie. Bsf, crpf, cisf, rpf, itbp, etc and MES,. Yeh military apni hi hai yaah Bahar mulk ki, who decides the ministry, minister , generals, admirals , air Marshalls or prime minister…crazy governance, agree minimum governance!
Medical categories like S 3 ,2 and so on, actually entitle disabled soldiers for adjustments and support.This article suggests they’re being used as discriminatory labels which is very inaccurate.In fact such discrimination against the disabled would be against the law(The PWD and MHC Acts ).
Mental fitness is complex, multi dimensional and dynamic which cannot be captured by arbitrary grades as suggested in the article.
Clearly there’re nuances which this article has missed and misunderstood.
The Army isn’t a welfare organisation. Soldiers who get into lower medical categories due to reason “attributable to military service” are indeed given promotions and everything else on par with others. For the “non-attributable, Non-aggravated” cases there are restrictions on promotions.
Publishing this news in media has no relevance. The serving officers are on active list of Indian Army. Any remedial measures, to upkeep health, is an internal matter of Army. Giving it publishity via media will adversly affect the morale of serving officers. I strongly feel that this news has nothing to do with public.
I had taken up case for abolition of time scale promotion
This is first
Dose to stop Time Scale ? promotion
Latest rules say Lt Colonels will not be promoted as ‘time-scale Colonels’ by the Army if their mental health is impacted by alcoholism or any form of substance abuse.
Y only aimed at particular rank.this syndrome is dangerous for the organization irrespective of the rank.
This will only lead to those with substance use disorders hiding their problem and getting treated at civilian de-addiction centres.
Substance use disorders are illnesses and should be viewed as such instead of stigmatizing and discrimination.
BiRa is the biggest Idiot to disgrace that appointment.
Unlike civil the army wants 100% commitments all the time but as far as promotion s are considered at 16 to 18 yrs all the counterparts in civil services reach joint Secy rank which is equivellant to a Maj gen . Incidently hardly 6%officers of the batch reach tis rank . In the past the awareness about the civil promotions was not availablehavailablehenve one did talk about it and remained commuted to his dutiewhole heartedly . Now things have changed. With this changed scenario and the visible antiarmy atmosphere in the officialdom it is really very difficult to remain motivated more so when one gets superseded at the age of 40 years or so. It is the normal human psychology and must be uderstoot by the authorities and remedial measures taken.in the interest of the armed forces and the nation.