New Delhi: Within months of the Narendra Modi-led Union government withdrawing special benefits for All India Service (AIS) officers posted in the northeast, three of the six northeastern states — Nagaland, Meghalaya and Assam — have announced a ‘special compensatory allowance’ for them.
The AIS includes officers serving in the Indian Administrative Services (IAS), India Police Service (IPS) and Indian Forest Service (IFoS).
The Union government had withdrawn special benefits, including additional monetary allowances and house retention policy, for AIS officers posted in the northeast in September last year, saying “such incentives were not required as peace prevailed in northeastern states now and it is well integrated”.
The very next month, on 7 October, 2022, the Assam government announced a “special compensatory allowance” to AIS officers serving in the state, under which they will get a 20 per cent hike on their basic pay.
The Meghalaya government followed, with a similar package on 23 December last year, allowing for the 20 per cent hike on basic pay.
Then last month, on 17 January, a similar order was issued by the Nagaland government. The Nagaland government order was issued with retrospective effect, starting from 23 September, 2022, which was when the central government had decided to withdraw the incentives for AIS officers posted in the region.
The Print has a copy of all the government orders.
While three state governments pitched in to compensate the officers, the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) — which include the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), among others — wrote to the government last month seeking a reconsideration of the new policy ,citing “hardship”, a senior officer serving in the forces told ThePrint. A response from the government is awaited.
“We have mentioned about the hardship the officers face in remote locations,” the officer added.
CAPF has deployments in the region and dozens of IPS officers posted in the remote areas and international border locations.
The Union government order has been met with resentment by many officers, who particularly expressed worry about their families because of the withdrawal of accommodation.
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Withdrawal order
In September last year, the central government issued the order withdrawing all special incentives given to AIS officers posted in the seven northeastern states. The incentives had includes a special allowance of 25 per cent on their basic pay, among other incentives.
In the order, dated 23 September, the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) further stated that the policy of retaining a government accommodation allocated at the last posting before going to the NE states for group A officers, including AIS officers, had also been withdrawn. Group A officers include those serving in all other central services including railways, income tax , customs and revenue.
ThePrint has accessed the copies of the orders. The officers were asked to vacate their government accommodations by 31 March, the officer quoted above said.
The orders were met with resentment from many officers who felt those serving in the northeast couldn’t be equated with officers serving in the rest of the country.
“There is no way the government can equate an officer serving in Nagaland or Manipur to an officer serving in Maharashtra or Karnataka. We are not even concerned about the money or other incentives, we just need the house retention policy to be back. We can serve anywhere if we know that our families are safe, our children are getting proper education,” said an officer serving in the northeast, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The AIS has four northeastern state cadres — the Assam-Meghalaya combined cadre, the Nagaland cadre, the Manipur cadre, the Tripura cadre and the Sikkim cadre. Two northeastern states — Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram — come under the Arunachal Pradesh-Goa-Mizoram and Union Territory (AGMUT) cadre of the Indian Administrative Service.
Two weeks after the September order, on 6 October, the Union Housing and Urban Affairs ministry issued an order stating that housing facilities which had been granted to the officers for specific tenures and been extended since 1999, have now been withdrawn. ThePrint has a copy of the order.
The government, in another order, mentioned that the northeastern states now have peace and it is well integrated, hence such incentives were not needed, said a second senior IAS officer serving in the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
Issues faced by officers in the region
In 2005, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA-I) government constituted a committee with Vineeta Rai — the first woman officer to be posted as revenue secretary — to review the need for special provisions or incentives for officers posted in the region.
In the report, seen by ThePrint, Rai had raised some major issues faced by the officers posted in the northeast.
These included inadequate professional exposure, security concerns, disrupted personal life and disadvantaged positions. In her report, she had recommended solutions which included retention of government accommodation, liberal education allowance (for the children of the officers), special duty allowance, income tax exemption and home travel concession.
Based on the recommendations, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) in 2006 had allowed inter cadre deputation for officers, provisions of foreign training empanelment at the rank of joint secretary and above, special privileges, education allowance, home travel allowance, increased leave, post-retirement housing and retention of government accommodation received previous to the northeast posting. The order was issued by the DoPT on 19 May, 2006. ThePrint has seen the relevant documents.
Talking to The Print, Rai said, “The recommendations were made after extensive travel across the region and after having conversations with the officers. Some of the recommendations were accepted, while some were not. I was particularly worried about the officers serving in Manipur and Nagaland, as the situation was really bad there back then, the education system was inadequate and so was the infrastructure.”
She added: “I don’t know under what circumstances, the incentives were withdrawn. But I think the government should consider creating an environment for officers to be willing to serve in some of the states. In states like Assam and Tripura, there should not be any unwillingness as they are well developed.”
Reluctance, followed by resentment
In the civil service, there has always been a sense of unwillingness or reluctance among officers to take up posting in the northeastern states, said those part of the services. The government managed with special incentives and the policy of retaining the government accommodation, said a former IAS officer, who retired as chief secretary of Arunachal Pradesh.
“The state governments should have been consulted before such a decision. There are several issues the officers face. Even though there is no major incident reported in the past few years, there is a sense of insecurity, lack of infrastructure and inadequate education setup. The officers generally face trauma working in some of the states and often decide to resign rather than serve in the region. These issues should have been considered. Taking family to such locations is an additional concern,” said the former officer.
Prakash Singh, an IPS officer who retired as DG and had served in the BSF, added: “The government generally makes an assessment before taking such a decision. I am not aware of the nitty gritties of such an order. However, generally, I think the government should seriously consider creating an integrated northeastern region cadre. Because the circumstances and situation are not similar with states located in northern, central, southern or western regions.”
Singh further said, “The northeastern states are different. To encourage and motivate the officers, the government should grant them certain incentives or create a frontier administrative service like the one that used to exist in the past.”
(Edited by Geethalakshmi Ramanathan)
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