Aerial View

In reply to Cdr Ravindra Pathak through No. IT&S/109/EM/Vol-I dated 13 Jun 2023, in reply to grievance No. PMOPG/E/2012/0106533 dated 22 May 2023, the PCDA (P) stated, “Please refer to your grievance regarding non-functioning of this office website i.e. www.pcdapension.nic.in. In this connection, it is intimated that the website is down due to some technical reasons from 12.03.2023 and the matter has been already taken up with the concerned technical team for the earliest resolution of the proble. Inconvenience caused is deeply regretted.

Sd/-------- R P Mishra, Accounts Officer (IT & S)

A year and 6 months later, vide IT&S/109/EM/Vol-I dated 24 Oct 2024, the SAO (IT & S) stated in reply to a letter to the Officer Incharge, RTI Cell (Local) with reference to his letter No. Admin/RTI/3584/545/2014 dated 25 Sep 2024, that “In this regard it is intimated that the website of PCDA (Pension) is down due to security issues. Currently, the PCDA (P) website is not functional. The complainant may be informed accordingly. Sd/----SAO (IT&S).

On 8 November 2024 at 13:09 an email was addressed to

To: defsecy@nic.in, sb.naithani@nic.in, fads1-mod@gov.in, devikar@nic.in, alkasharma.dad@hub.nic.in, pcdacpp.dad@hub.nic.in

Shri Rajesh Kumar Singh IAS (KL 1989), Defence Secretary

(2) Shri S B Naithani Principal Staff Officer to Defence Secretary

(3) Shri Sugata Ghosh Dastidar, Financial Adviser Defence Services

(4) Smt Devika Raghuvanshi, Controller General of Defence Accounts

(5) Smt Alka Sharma, Special CGDA (now retired)

Sir/Madam,

Greetings

…………...

I have been active in obtaining information through RTI on various issues concerning Pay and Pension so that rumours and speculation is minimised by publishing on a blog titled Aerial View. I am also assisting pensioners, especially Family pensioners as the beneficiaries are not very computer literate.

As long as the PCDA (Pension) website was functional, it was possible to download and read various Pension related Circulars and to clear doubts, my own and those of who approached me.

However, since March 2023, as admitted by the Public Authority, the PCDA (P) website has been "down" due to technical and security issues.

That the website is not functional for over 18 months is something that does not appear to have been informed to the highest levels of the Ministry of Defence and Defence Accounts Department.

In the meantime, the aggressive migration of over 30 lakh Defence pensioners to SPARSH being the task set by your predecessor, Shri Giridhar Aramane, has resulted in messages like "Record Discrepant as mandatory data is not available" to many pensioners. Lack of information on what a pensioner should do in such cases is not available either on the SPARSH website nor can one obtain it from the PCDA (P) website because it is "down"! Please see second attachment.

Raising a grievance on the SPARSH website appears not to be of much use because one receives a cryptic message that the grievance is Closed but no further details though the SPARSH has both email and mobile numbers of all migrated pensioners and family pensioners.

In addition, many senior citizen pensioners - ages 85 and above - are running from pillar to post to get the additional pension (granted vide MoD/DESW letter of 12.11.2008) because of this 'data discrepancy.'

One is aware that many are resorting to RTI applications because information on which officer should one approach is missing on the SPARSH and PCDA (P) websites.

If the data was digitally transferred from the erstwhile web based ASHRAYA and SUVIGYA designed by CGDA and inaugurated with much fanfare in 2011 by then Raksha Mantri, Shri A K Antony, to the web-based SPARSH announced with greater fanfare by Shri Arun Jaitley (may his soul rest in peace), it is a mystery to many computer literate pensioners as to how data could need verification, as annual audits have been taking place of every pension account. Chapter 11 of the CGDA Manual on audit refers.

Finally, even though MoD has published information as required by Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005, such information relevant to Section 4 is missing from the functional SPARSH website.

The helpline offers advice to contact the Record Office (RO). The RO has no information as stated in a reply dated Oct 2024.

PCDA (P) website as it continues to be down at the time of writing this email even in the link on https://cgda.nic.in/index.php?page=pensionersportal

National Informatics Centre Services Incorporated, which is supposed to maintain the website appears to have no information. In reply to request dated 09 Nov 24, it transferred, on 21 Nov 24, the request for information on the nature of problems to PCDA, Defence Officers Complex, New Delhi which has transferred the request to PCDA (P) on 02 Dec 24.

The Lucknow branch of the National Informatics Centre which looks after Uttar Pradesh, stated in reply to RTI request NICHQ/R/E/24/00677, “As per information received from NIC UP State Centre i.e. Deemed PIO and Custodian of Information, the reply to the said RTI application is as follows :

The referred website is not hosted through Uttar Pradesh State Centre and also not being looked after by UP State Centre so information can not be provided.

In case you want to go for an appeal related to the reply provided, you may appeal to the Appellate Authority indicated below within thirty days from the date of disposal of this RTI Query: Shri Timothy Dkhar, DDG & Appellate Authority, National Informatics Centre, A-Block CGO Complex, Lodhi Road New Delhi : 110003.

That leaves the question – who or what killedhttp://pcdapension.nic.in ?

Five Ranks One Pension Amount

A certain decision of the Ministry of Defence’s Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare granting Brigs and above with 33 years of service the same amount is intriguing while it tries to reduce, after 18 years, the humiliation of Maj Gen and above being paid lesser pension than Brigadiers till 01 Jul 2024.

6^th CPC recommended that Brigs and below be paid Military Service Pay (MSP) from 01 Jan 2006. Maj Gen and above were not recommended to be entitled to MSP. The “anomaly” about likelihood of junior officers drawing more emoluments than their seniors if MSP was added to Pay in the Pay Band (as Basic Pay was renamed) and Grade Pay was first raised by the Implementation Cell of Dept of Finance, MoF in 2008 while vetting SAI 2/S/2008 subsequent to Govt’s approval of recommendations of the 6^th CPC. O/o CGDA opined that it would not happen because the “Lt Col/Col/Brig would by then either join the ranks of Maj Gen & above or superannuate”. This information was not available to Services HQ because the RTI was in its infancy.

However, thanks to RTI it is known that the then Chairman, CoSC and CNS (Admiral ‘Faggy’ Mehta) took up the matter strongly with the Govt in 2008. It resulted in the PMO convening a Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by then Minister of External Affairs (later President of India) which submitted its report in Dec 2008. The GoM considered 4 major anomalies.

The GoM was followed by a Cabinet Secretary led Committee (CSC) in 2009 (which considered issues such as OROP and Revision of Lt General pension after carving out a separate pay scale for them) and yet another CSC in 2012 (issues included OROP and placing of all Lt Generals in HAG+ scale). Sadly, none of CSCs had an Armed Forces representative. The result was that all issues except moving the Lt Col from PB-3 to PB-4 were passed onto the 7th CPC.

The GoM recommended “The Pay revision of the Armed Forces should be delinked from civilian pay revisions. Separate Board or Commission should be set up to recommend the pay scales of the Armed Forces in future.” PMO approved vide PMO ID No. 1176973/PMO/2008 dated 27.12.2008.

As stated earlier, MoF pointed out in 2008 (6th CPC) that adding MSP (then Rs 6000/-) to the Basic Pay of Lt Cols to Brig was granting them higher total emoluments than that drawn by Maj Gen, Lt Gen, Lt Gen+ and Army Cdr/VCOAS (and equivalents). It was disagreed by the CGDA on the assumption that Lt Cols to Brigs would never attain the maximum of Pay + Grade Pay + MSP. Services HQ were in the dark because the file noting and calculations was not available to them.

Services lost the opportunity to have a separate Pay Committee or Commission even though PMO decreed so in 2008 because then Chairman, CoSC & CAS (and the other two Chiefs) opted in 2013 not to exercise that option and placed his trust and our future in the hands of the 7th CPC. Then RM just forwarded the file to PMO without any comments.

In 2014, Services HQ were again given an opportunity to present their case with a Joint Services Memorandum (JSM) to the 7th CPC. As the JSM has never been placed in the public domain, the question arises - Did the JSM contain any mention of the anomaly? Did the authors of the JSM and those who approved it read and recommend the proposal of protection of pay of 2 Star and above that the Senior Salaries Review Body of UK has been following for years viz. the minimum pay of OFC7 (Maj Gen) should be higher by 10% as compared to maximum pay + X Factor of OFC6 (Brigs) and maintain that 10% for pays of 2 Stars vs 3 Stars, 3 Stars vs 4 Stars.[Please refer to Chapter 4 of https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/66a7a3c849b9c0597fdb066e/SSRB_Annual_Report_2024_Accessible.pdf which is the same as in earlier SSRB reports].

It maybe a coincidence that the pay of a 4 Star Officer in India (Rs 2, 50, 000) is more than 10% higher than the maximum pay of a 3 Star (Rs 2, 25, 000)!

The 7th CPC commissioned the IDSA to do a comparative study of pay patterns of certain countries. How did it escape the attention of IDSA or the Defence Pay/Pension expert of 7th CPC that even that a Brig’s Basic Pay of Rs 217600 + MSP of Rs 15500 would exceed the Basic Pay of a Maj Gen (Rs 218200 + Zero MSP) or Lt Gen (Rs 224100/224400 + Zero MSP or that of an Army Cdr (Rs 225000 + Zero MSP)?

The answer, perhaps, lies in 7th CPC’s Report at Para 6.2.114 Applicability of MSP: A demand has also been made that MSP be granted to all officers. Currently MSP is paid up to the level of Brigadiers. The IV, V and VI CPCs, on examination of the issue, granted Rank Pay/Military Service Pay up to the level of Brigadier. Superannuation of personnel at a relatively younger age is one of the important considerations being laid down by this Commission for the grant of MSP. Major General and equivalent officers and those above them retire at 58 or beyond, thus serve for periods comparable, with their civilian counterparts. Having regard to all these factors the Commission is of the view that the existing application of MSP up to the level of Brigadier is appropriate and does not call for a review.

7th CPC's Para 5.2.8 Rationalisation: An ‘index of rationalisation’ has been applied while making enhancement of levels from Pay Band 1 to 2, 2 to 3 and 3 onwards on the remise that role, responsibility and accountability increases at each step in the hierarchy. At the existing PB-1, this index is 2.57, increasing to 2.62 for personnel in PB-2 and further to 2.67 from PB-3. Recognising the significantly higher degree of responsibility and accountability at levels corresponding to Senior Administrative Grade, the entry pay is recommended for enhancement by a multiple of 2.72. The same multiple is also being applied at the HAG and HAG+ levels. At the apex level the index applied is 2.81 and for the Service Chiefs/Cabinet Secretary the index has been fixed at 2.78".

Therefore, anomaly of Brigs drawing more than Maj Gen and above was continued by the 7th CPC and not addressed by the MoD even after Chairman CoSC & CAS took up the matter with then RM (RIP) in Sep 2016.

After 2 years of persistent effort to obtain the information that GoI/MoD and MoF were aware of the anomaly, that Shri Arun Jaitley, then RM (RIP) approved Personal Pay for Maj Gen and Lt Gen (subject to the maximum of Rs 2, 25, 000) in May 2017, it was nixed by Ashok Lavasa, then Finance Secretary (now enjoying a sinecure with the Asian Development Bank).

This needs to be challenged in a High Court with cogent reasons like what is the workload, responsibility and accountability of Maj Gen and above.

However, about 70-80 retired Maj Gen and Lt Gen and equivalents pursued identical writ petitions in the honourable High Court of Punjab & Haryana, seeking pensions at least equivalents to the maximum pension drawn by officers of the ranks of Brigadiers. Bureaucracy, with ‘expert opinion’ of CGDA denied that Maj Gen and above were drawing lesser pension than Brig because the senior officers were drawing higher basic Pay. This ignored the fact that pension is 50% of Reckonable Emoluments which is the sum total of Basic Pay and Military Service Pay (and Grade Pay in the 6^th CPC regime.

On 21 Dec 2021, the MoD acknowledged in a Short Reply affidavit that it was indeed a fact that Brigs, even Lt Cols and Cols were drawing higher RE than Maj Gens and above in the 6^th CPC regime and that this has continued to a lesser extent in the 7^th CPC – only Cols and Brigs drew higher RE than Maj Gen and above. Based on this affidavit the honourable High Court passed an order on 03 Jul 24 that the anomaly be corrected.

While the litigants, and thousands of similarly situated Maj Gen and above and equivalents were preparing for continuing the litigation in the honourable High Court or in the honourable Supreme Court if necessary, the MoD’s Department of Ex-Servicemen’s Welfare issued a letter dated 04 Sep 24 revising the One Rank One Pension (OROP) due on 01 Jul 24 with pensions tables that granted the same amount as pension for all Brigs and above with 33 years or more of service, viz. Rs 1, 16, 550 (being 50% of the maximum RE of Rs 2, 33,100 being drawn by Brigs).

It is also on record that the first CDS (RIP) proposed a ceiling of Rs 2, 25, 000 on 21 Sep 2020 (on MoD/DMA file No. 1(6)/2013-D (Pay/Services). This was seized upon on 22 Feb 2023 by one retired Director who was appointed as Consultant in E.III.A of DoE, MoF. The Consultant segregated Brigs and Maj Gen (and there was no mention of Lt Gen or above) into different classes by pay (Rs 2, 33, 100, 2, 26, 800, 2, 25, 000 and 2, 18, 200) (MoF, DoE ID No. 03-05/2016-E.III.A dated 19.5.2023) which then Finance & Expenditure Secretary, now Cabinet Secretary, approved on 15 May 23 (the date the honourable High Court of Punjab & Haryana was hearing one of the above mentioned petitions).

This was followed up by MoD/DMA with approval of Maj Gen/JS (since retired) issuing Pay Protection letter o1(6)/2013/D (Pay/Services) dated 12 Jun 23 based on the above segregation.

However, with issue of letter No. 1(2)/2023/D(Pen/Pol) dated 04 Sep 24, the pensions of Maj Gen and above are higher (Rs 1, 16, 550) than the original pensions of Maj Gen (Rs 1,09, 100) or pension of even Army Cdr and VCOAS (Rs 1, 12, 500) and equivalents or the ceiling imposed by MoF, DOE’s E.III.A division on 19 May 23 and echoed by MoD/DMA’s Pay Protection letter of 12 Jun 23.

Finally, those dissatisfied with the letter of 04 Sep 24, must read and understand that the Protection of Pension concept or the Stepping up of pay of seniors or Personal Pay is based on the Fundamental principle that Pension of a junior cannot be more than the pension of senior and NOT that pension of a senior has to be stepped up to be higher than pension of a junior.

While the battle was half won – pension of Maj Gen and above increased from Rs 1, 09, 100, Rs 1, 12, 050, Rs 1,12,220 and Rs 1, 12, 500 to Rs 1, 16, 550 – it left knowledgeable veterans gasping as how a small miracle of the bureaucracy ocurred, especially the CGDA and MoD Fin/Pen conceding this. Was it the ibid order of the honourable High Court? Or was it an extraordinary intervention of the Executive at the highest level? For even the assurance of revision of OROP every 5 years as per the Govt’s policy letter dated 07 Nov 15 had been hotly contested by Union of India till the honourable Supreme Court passed an order on 17 Mar 23.

The mystery behind the magnanimity of the MoD/DESW letter of 04 Sep 24 extending the benefit of pension of Rs 1, 16, 550 to all Maj Gens and above contradicts the ceilings of pay of Maj Gen imposed by the MoD/DMA ‘s letter of 12 Jun 23.

The mystery is not answered in the nearly 800 pages of file noting and correspondence provided by MoD/DESW and MoD Fin/Pen as indicated below:

1. The information provided by MoD/DESW letter F No. 12(6)/2014/D(P) dated 13.11.2024 is incomplete in that though it includes MoD/DESW Proposal in Para 3 of Draft Cabinet Notes (DCN) approved by the honourable RM and subsequent Cabinet approval of Para 9 of the DCN vide Case No. 02/16/2024 dated 03.7.2024 for revision of OROP from 01.7.2024, the information provided does not mention for the information of the Cabinet, the basis by which MoD/DESW recommended that retirees of ranks of Brigs and above with 33 years or more of service to be granted the an identical amount of pension viz. Rs 1, 16, 550.

Similarly, file noting and correspondence provided by Def Finance/Pension vide F No. 29(02)/2016/Fin/Pen dated 17.10.2024 which approved the DGL also does not contain mention of the same in file notings or correspondence the basis for concurrence of the DGL and/or tables with same maximum pension amount of Rs 1, 16, 550 for Levels 13A to 17.

And. the MoD/DESW’s submission to the Cabinet for approval of OROP 2023 states that OROP revision w.e.f 01.7.2024 is on the same principles adopted in MoD letter of 07.11.2015 viz. pension of past pensioners will be re-fixed on the basis of average of minimum and maximum pension of Defence Forces retirees of calendar year 2023 for same rank and same length of service. However, Para 3 of Proposal for approval of Cabinet in DCN for pension revision w.e.f 01.7.2024 does not mention identical amount of Rs 1, 16, 550 as pension for levels 13A to 17 with more than 33 years of service.

Yet the live data used by O/o PCDA (P) to calculate the OROP-2023 states that the maximum pension in the calendar year 2023 is Rs 1, 16, 550 for Brig/Level 13A, Rs 1, 13, 400 for Maj Gen/Level 14, Rs 1, 12, 050 for Lt Gen/Level 15, Rs 1, 12, 200 for Lt Gen/Level 16 and Rs 1, 12, 500 for Lt Gen/Level 17 (Apex).

Therefore, the mystery would be resolved only by revealing file noting and correspondence that enabled grant of the same amount as maximum pension for retirees of the ranks of Brig and above with 33 years of service (ibid Table 1 dated 04.9.2024 refers)including photocopy of the Govt order amending the OROP principle of same amount as pension for the same rank and years of service as in MoD/DESW letter dated 07.11.2015 to enable grant of identical amount maximum pension of Rs 116550 to Levels 13A to Level 17 as reflected in Table 1 of ibid DESW letter dated 04.9.2024 needs to be placed in the public domain.

Finally there is the Fundamental Rules (FR) – the ultimate weapon in the armoury of bureaucracy.

FR 9 (23), which was quoted most often to deny higher pay and pension states, inter alia that “Personal Pay is additional pay granted to Govt servant to same him/her from loss of substantive pay, and (b) in exceptional circumstances, on other personal consideration.”

Personal Pay to all Maj Gen and above to bring their pay or pension at par with the pay or pension of Brigs is denied quoting FR 9(23) (in MoF, DoE ID No. 30-1/11(i)/2016-IC/Pt dated 28 Apr 2017 (provided by reply No. F No. 7/6/2019-E.III (A) (RTI-315/19 dated 25 Apr 2019 to RTI request No. DOEXP/R/2019/50322 dated 19 Mar 2019.

However, none of the files, IDs or OMs, either from MoD/DMA, MoD/DESW, or MoF/DoE mention that FR 3 states, “These rules do not apply to Govt servants whose conditions of service are governed by Army or Marine Regulations.”

Or no recourse by MoD against the FR 5A weapon of the Deptt of Expenditure, MoF by taking action “Where any Ministry or Department of Government is of opinion that the operation of any of these rules may cause undue hardship to any person, that Ministry or Department, as the case may be, may, by order, for reasons to be recorded in writing, relax the requirements of that rule to such extent and subject to such conditions as it may consider necessary for dealing with the case in a just and equitable manner:

Provided that no such order shall be made except with the concurrence of the Ministry of Finance” by resorting to FR 3!

Quod Erat Demonstrandum

Friday, 9 February 2024

Is SPARSH different from the erstwhile Aashraya & Suvigya?

Ashraya/Suvigya vs SPARSH - Similarities

Prologue

As per O/o CGDA reply No. PENS-5702/2/2022-PEN/RTI dated 28.08.2023, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) was contracted to implement SPARSH at a cost of Rs 160.22 crore of which Rs 95.76 crore has already been paid.

Inspite of the headline on the TCS website stating “CGDA Launches SPARSH Platform to Ensure Timely Pension Disbursements” on https://www.tcs.com/what-we-do/industries/public-services/case-study/cgda-sparsh-program-digitalizes-pension-sanction-process & unable to send a message on https://www.tcs.com/contact-us/whats-on-your-mind/website-feedback-form

It is understood that the problems are because many pensioners were migrated (in haste?) on an ‘as is where is basis’ with just basic service data and pay data used for migrating a pensioner to SPARSH. So they are unable to access the PPO/Corr PPO after receiving text messages to login and see PPO/Corr PPO or receive a “Record is discrepant, mandatory data is missing…”

So What is different or is it the same Pension Disbursement scheme with Banks out of the scheme and Problems into the scheme?

Please read on

Defence Accounts Department scheme

Aashraya/Suvigya inaugurated in 2010

Defence Accounts Department scheme

SPARSH approved in 2017

. Aashraya and Suvigya are/were established pension disbursement systems implemented by Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) and are now sought to be replaced at considerable additional and avoidable expenditure. The blurb below is from the official website of CGDA and is available in the public domain (https://cgda.nic.in/index.php?page=aashryaN): -

Background

“Defence Accounts Department is responsible for sanction and disbursement of Defence Pension to retired Service Officers, JCOs and ORs, Defence Civilians and their families.

Efficient Disbursement of Pension to the Defence Pensioners is of primmest concern to the Defence Accounts Department. The Defence Pension budget constitutes approximately 62% of total pension budget of Central Govt.

Pension is sanctioned to approximately one lac retirees each year by three Pension Sanctioning Authorities of the Department and is disbursed monthly to approximately 23.5 Lacs pensioners out of which nearly 5 Lacs receive their pension through 61 Defence Pension Disbursement Offices (DPDOs) spread across the country. With increased life expectancy and a dependency ratio of over 100% for defence pension it is imperative to ensure that correct pension is paid to the pensioners as the quantum of pension and its regularity impacts over 2 million defence personnel.

Given the huge amount of expenditure incurred by the Govt. towards its pension liability and a large no. of people being its beneficiaries, it is absolutely necessary to have a pensioner friendly, efficient and a transparent Pension Disbursement System and Pension Enquiry System. Accordingly the project “Aashraya: Pension Disbursement System” and “Suvigya: Pension Enquiry System” were launched in Jun-2010. These were developed and inaugurated by Hon’ble Raksha Mantri on DAD Day i.e. Oct 1, 2010.

Aashraya

The Concept

The Defence Pension Disbursement offices were running on COBOL Based Pension Disbursement System called RNPDS. This was an outdated system with very limited utility and required programming skills for its operations for every transaction. Hence, it was not user friendly and required COBOL programming skills for operation. It had a limited facility to generate Pension Schedule of Pensioners. There was no role based operation. The MIS generation and audit was not possible. The Staff and officer of the DPDO were dependent on the programmers of the COBOL to operate it for settling any grievance. With change in pension entitlements like Dearness Relief, Allowances etc the payment of correct entitlements and arrears were a tedious job.

In view of above situation, the Defence Accounts Department conceived the idea of making an efficient Pension Disbursement System (i.e. Project “Aashraya”) for making the correct payment of pension and addressing grievances of the pensioners while automating the most of the manual work of DPDOs. Accordingly the Project “Aashraya” was initiated. This software was developed by using open source platform i.e. PHP/ MySQL and runs on Linux/Windows etc. It has been designed, developed and implemented by in-house team of officers without third party assistance and expenditure on this account. It has following salient features:

· Transparency and stakeholder participation: “Aashraya” software is very user friendly with role based authentications. Pensioner’s profile module in the system enables DPDO staff to view the complete profile of a pensioner by entering the ID of pensioner and payment history for the purpose of redressal of grievances. In earlier system the information could only fetched by writing COBOL program on every case and was dependent on availability of one technical person in DPDO office. Now, “Aashraya” has made available the pensioner’s information with every staff and officer of DPDO for faster redressal of grievances if any or otherwise with least manual effort.

Innovativeness of the initiative and its replicability: ‘Aashraya’ has automated the disbursement of pension to 5 lac pensioners from 61 Defence Pension Disbursement (DPDO) offices across the country. It can be customised for the use of any pension disbursement agency (Post office, civil treasury, bank etc.)

The Software is:

i. Intuitive, normal office staff without much computer knowledge can work on it.

ii. Web-enabled, can be run at dispersed locations across the country.

iii. Inexpensive, based on freeware platforms and developed in-house and needs minimal outstation resources.

iv. Comprehensive, covers all main activities of a pension disbursement office and

v. Green saves lot of printing effort and paper.

A modified PDCA (plan-do-check-act) iterative cycle was used at all stages for the development. The difference was that the users (Non-EDP taskholders/supervisors) themselves were the problem-solvers, equal participants in the cycle. They concurrently did the data input and suggested further screen improvements that the programmers readily implemented. By the time the system was fully evolved, the users developed an ownership stake and their enthusiastic participation led to an implementation momentum that crashed all timelines. The result is there for all to see.

Increased efficiency of outputs/processes and effectiveness of outcomes: This software has increased many folds the working efficiency of DPDOs staff as working on new system is very user friendly and faster. The process which took many hours now takes few minutes to finish.

I. Web Enabled User Friendly Operations: “Aashraya” is web enabled software with user friendly interface screens and navigation. Any non-technical person in DPDO can easily operate it. The operations of DPDO like generation of Pension Payment Schedule of Pensioners, MIS, Common reports and returns etc could be generated on click of button without programming knowledge

II. In-Built Help: There is in-built help for operation of every screen. There is no need for officers and staff to wait and depend on the COBOL programmer to process any transaction.

III. Pensioners’ Profile: the module “Pensioners’ Profile” gives information regarding pensioners, pension related matters and entitlements being paid. These can be fetched easily by staff and officers of DPDO for attending the grievances and its quick settlement. This has resolved the problem of earlier system where it was not feasible for staff and officers to do so.

IV. Role Based Operations: In “Aashraya” the functioning of DPDO has been made role based for various tasks and ranks as per procedures. This has induced accountability for various tasks at various ranks. Respective operators of “Aashraya” can print the record of the transactions done by them. The administrator can track the person carrying out the transaction. This has resolved the problem of single point data entry and operations by the COBOL programmer on behalf of other staff in earlier COBOL based system. The staff had responsibility without record and direct access to what had been done on their behalf.

V. In-Built Audit Checks: Common Audit Checks have been built into “Aashraya” to ensure accurate data entry and output results. These checks were not there in old system generally leading to output with lesser accuracy. Further, the manual checking of payment schedule as audit requirement in earlier system was time consuming. The “Aashraya” automatically compares the schedules of desired months.

VI. History of payments: “Aashraya” has facility to maintain the history of pension disbursement for longer periods to facilitate quick payment of arrears in the event of change of entitlements by Government and for settlement of a grievance etc. The earlier system could maintain the history of payments of pension only up to 15 months and calculation of arrears in case of change of entitlements etc was tedious manual task.

VII. Monthly Pension Slip to Pensioners through E-MAIL and SMS: “Aashraya” contains the facility for sending monthly pension slip of the pensioners to their e-mail and also on their mobile through SMS. The DPDO has to just press the button once for it.

In nut-shell, the “Aashraya” has automated the operations in DPDOs in a user friendly manner, ensured accuracy by audit checks, minimised grievances and quicken the settlement of existing grievances thereby enhancing the overall efficiency of DPDOs.

VIII. Date of implementation of the initiative:

This project was formally inaugurated by Hon’ble Raksha Mantri Sh. A K Antony on DAD Day on Oct 1, 2010 and the completely implemented by March 2011 in 61 DPDOs. Now it is running in all 63 DPDOs.

Suvigya

Armed Forces Personnel generally retire at an early age. The pension structure compensates them for early retirement and also for acts of bravery, strain of active service and so, is very different from civil pension system. Pay Commissions and other Authorities constantly keep improving their entitlements. Hence, Defence Service Pensions are far more complex. At present, pension is being disbursed to pensioners by Defence Pension Disbursement Offices, banks, State Government Treasuries and Post Offices. They also carry out table based pension revision. While the DPDO understands the technicalities of pension, being part of DAD, other agencies, especially bank branches have limitations.

Our experience at the Pension Adalats has been that most of the issues in pension arise at the bank level. In this back drop project SUVIGYA is a total in-house designed and developed Pension enquiry System, was taken up in July, 2010 with a view to empower the pensioners to know what their correct entitlement of pension is from time to time. It is a web-technique based system. The system requires very few basic inputs from the pensioner. Once data is entered software calculates the pension and changes to it from time to time. Pensioner can get a print out of inputs provided by him and of the outputs generated by the system. If a pensioner finds his/her pension actually paid or being paid is less then the results given by the system, he/she can take up the matter with the Pension Sanctioning Authority or Pension Disbursing Agencies for rectification.

To the best of our knowledge, no other Government department has so far established such a comprehensive and interactive Pension Enquiry System. We have provided e-kiosks at various DAD and Service secured locations accessible to the pensioners. For computer-shy pensioners, we have trained the concerned officials of DAD, Zila Sainik Boards and other offices where e-kiosks have been provided” (emphasis supplied).

Controller General of Defence Accounts

Ulan Batar Road, Palam Delhi Cantt – 110010

IT & S WING

Subject: Statement of Case for CPP Project for approvals from the Ministry

Kindly refer to the budget speech of the Hon’ble Finance Minister which announced the creation of web based interactive pension distribution system for defence pensioners which would receive pension proposals and make payment centrally and the directives given in the meeting held in this regard on 15.3.2017 and chaired by FA (DS).

2. The consultancy awarded by the department towards realisation of CPP project to NISG has progressed to the stage of finalisation of Draft RFP. The Draft RFP submitted is under examination by the department.

3. The following documents are annexed for necessary approvals and budget commitments from the ministry:

(a) A Statement of Case duly including project components, timelines, implementation road map and financial projections.

(b) The Detailed Project Report submitted by NISG for information and perusal.

4. The ministry is requested to accord necessary approvals and budget commitments for the project based on the above documentation.

5. The RFP will be floated after accordance of necessary approvals by the ministry as above.

This issues with the approval of CGDA.

Sd/---------- V K Vijay

JT CGDA (IT&S)

Shri A N Das, JS & Addl FA MoD (Fin)

U.O. No. MECH/IT/CPP/NISG III dated 23.03.2017

Copy to: Shri Ravi Kant, JS (ESW) : for information and necessary action

Sd/----- V K Vijay

Jt CDGA (IT &S)

Statement of Case for Centralised Pension Package

1. Background

The Defence pension is an area of significance in the Indian socio-economic scenarios as it caters to the largest segment of the country’s pensioners both in terms of numbers as well as in terms of the budget allocation. There are approximately 25 lakh Defence pensioners (including the civilian pensioners) in India and Defence pension caters for approximately 45% of the total pension budget of the government of India. 70000 pensioners are added every year to the pension domain.

The Defence Accounts Department (DAD) administers the Defence pension on behalf of the Ministry of Defence. The department is assisted by various other stakeholders in its disbursement functions while the sanction, accounting and audit procedures are handled within the department. While the multi organisation setup was the need of the yesteryears to realise last mile connectivity with the pensioner, it brought along gaps in accounting, budgeting and reporting in pension processes. The variance in the treatment of revision of pension by the various disbursing agencies also resulted in increased grievances and dissatisfaction amongst the pensioners.

With a view to mitigate the above limitations and leverage the use of technological advances in the IT domain, the department proposed a model for centralised disbursement in April 2015. This model was given an in-principle approval by the ministry. However, the proposal did not materialise owing to resource constraints. To overcome the existing constraints and to ensure a more holistic and all-encompassing solution to Defence pension administration the department has conceptualised a comprehensive pension package which would handle all processes from pension initiation, sanction, disbursement, revision, accounting, budgeting and audit. This comprehensive concept also caters for information dissemination and grievance redressal.

As the first step towards realisation of the concept the department has engaged NISG in 2016 as a consultant to study the existing process and suggest a suitable technology platform for integrated service delivery. NISG after detailed analysis of business processes and engagement with various stakeholders have proposed a model for the development of a comprehensive package envisaging a centralised platform for integration and delivery of pension related services through a system integrator.

2. The Project Proposal

2.1. The Concept

The paradigm for the centralised pension package as recommended by NISG and accepted by the department envisages a centralised pension administration environment to be developed through outsourcing. The solution would be placed on two distinct and separated networks – the intranet of the department and the internet. The intranet component would host the core pension process, while the internet component will provide the information dissemination, service delivery and grievance redressal. This system envisages digital transmission of data thereby minimising transit delays and ensuring faster processing, timely disbursement and accurate accounting procedures. The system also envisages a revision module which would ensure uniform and timely revision of pension to all beneficiaries.

2.1.1. Benefits

The major benefits that would accrue from the centralisation of pension related activities as envisaged through the project are summarised below:

1. Correct pension fixation and revision

2. Improved G2C services to the pensioners in e-Gov environment

3. Consolidated reliable database of Pensioners records, change history, transaction, etc

4. Data integrity

5. Self-services based delivery model

6. Expending Services Centres resulting in higher satisfaction & less grievances

7. Reduction in total number of Grievances

8. Significant reduction in turnaround times

9. Anywhere/Anytime information access to the stakeholders & pensioners

10. System based Data Analytics shall help to further enhance Processes

2.2. Components

The CPP project has three distinct components

1. The Centralised Pension Package software

2. Setting up of Data Centres

3. Digitisation of legacy records

The project is envisaged to be completed over a period of 3 years with major deliverables i.e. CPP software and Data Centres of the project being realised in the first year of the project.

2.2.1. Comprehensive Pension Package Software

This involves the development of the software component of the project which includes development of

i. E forms – for the individual to apply for his pension

ii. Record Offices/HOOs Module – for verification & processing of e-forms & upload to CPP software

iii. Pay Accounts Office Module – for entering the pay related information of the prospective pensioner

iv. Claim tracking module – to track the status of the pension claim

v. Pension Sanction Module – for the sanction of pensions

vi. Revision Module – for uniform pension revisions

vii. Disbursement Module – for centralised pension disbursement

viii. Service centre module – for service centres

ix. Accounting and Budgeting module – for reconciliation compilation and budget preparation

x. Data migration module – for migration of data relating to legacy pensioners

xi. Web interface/Mobile interface for information dissemination

The functional requirements in this regard has already been formulated and vetted by the department. This forms the major component of the project and is estimated to be delivered within 12 months of signing of the contract with the system integrator.

2.2.2. Data Centre

The second component of this project involves setting up of twostate of art data centres for the CPP to operate from. Delhi and Bangalore are the locations approved by the department for setting up data centres. The application will primarily operate from Delhi while Bangalore will act as a disaster recovery site. The establishment of the Data Centre would be alongside the development of the CPP application.

2.2.3. Digitisation of Legacy Data

The third component of the project involves digitisation of records existing with the Pension Sanctioning and disbursement agencies till the roll out of CPP. This activity is slated to be carried out over a period of three years, keeping in view the volume of records involved.

2.3. Roll Out Plan

The project envisages three distinct phases of implementation.

Phase 1 (at Rollout) – Onboarding of Pensioners retiring from the date of roll out & DPDO Pensioners

Phase 2 (Rollout + 12 months) – Onboarding the pensioners from CPPCs other than SBI and PNB, Post Offices and Treasuries

Phase 3 (Phase 2 + 12 months) – Onboarding of pensioners from SBI and PNB

2.4. Auxiliary Components of the Project

In addition to the core components as brought out above, the realisation of the project would require the following additional components for its effective deployment

2.4.1. Service centres

Centralisation of the pension process through CPP would result in the department becoming the sole stakeholder in pension delivery. The department has its presence only at 257 locations across the country through its offices. Hence there is a need to establish service centre in the field to establish last mile connectivity with the pensioner. It is proposed to have presence in approximately 350 districts across the country in the project phase with atleast 2 service centres in each of these districts based on the identity of pensioners in these locations. Three district types of service centres have been proposed under the CPP

1. Information Dissemination Centres: These would be done through Information kiosks and contact centres at places like ECHS centres/CSD canteens/Veterans Cells. Their basic aim is to provide information dissemination (sic) to the pensioner. The kiosks would be self-operated and the contact points are proposed to be manned by ESW welfare volunteers or operated through veteran cells manned by manpower trained on CPP platform. These centres would be connected to CPP over the internet.

2. Information Transmission Centres: These centres would act as points of transmission of grievances/service requests from the field to the Pension processing agency and would be established through post offices, e-seva kendras or state governments, Zila Sainik Boards or through outsourced agencies depending upon the availability and need of each agency. These centres would be connected over the internet.

3. DAD service centres: DAD has designated 149 offices as service centres under CPDS, these service centres would also provide information, accept service requests and provide grievance redressal measures to the pensioner. These centres would be connected to the DAD WAN.

2.4.2. Project Management Unit

The CPP project envisages is a high value project involving cutting edge technology. The deliverables are highly technical in quality and quantity and is beyond the capabilities of the department’s expertise. Therefore, for assisting the department in its Project management an external Project management agency is necessary who will provide the technical as well as management advice and aid the department in the timely completion of the project.

2.4.3. Publicity Campaigns and Data Adalats

The roll out of CPP would be successful only when there is adequate confidence amongst the pensioners, both new and legacy, about the system. This would require publicity in media, awareness sessions and promotional materials regarding CPP. There would also be a requirement to conduct data Adalats to fill in the data gaps existing in the legacy systems during migration as well as after it.

2.4.4. Centralised Record Storage Facility

The CPP implementation would result in significant number of records being moved from the various stakeholders to PCDA (P), Allahabad. State of the art record storage and management facility would be required to be developed at Allahabad to handle this infux of Records.

2.4.5. Strengthening of internal networking of DAD

The DAD WAN has now been established with all major DAD officers and Record offices as an initial step towards CPP implementation. However, there would be need to augment and strengthen the capacity and technology involved in this network to handle the load that would be posed by the system.

2.4.6. Provision of Smart cards

The incorporation of pension information into smart cards to be issued in lieu of PPOs at a later date is catered for in the CPP system. This can be implemented after successful roll out of the system. Such a card would enable a more futuristic option for the pensioners to possess and have access to pension related information. This would also enable cross organisation integration for the pensioners in the future in cooperation with ESW organisations like ECHS, CSD etc.

2.4.7. Capacity Building

The project being of a highly technical nature and since its technical operations are also being proposed to be outsourced to the SI for a period of 7 years, it is necessary for the department to develop in-house capabilities in network and security management through capacity building in these areas to ensure joint management of the Network and security centres. This is very much essential from the point of view of security as well as ensuring the delivery of SLAs by the service provider.

3. Challenges of the project

1. Challenges in implementation for new pensioners

a. Establishment of Service Centres: The centralised Pension Package has conceived service centres in the field areas. The establishment of service centres (as well as information kiosks) needs coordination and agreement with a multitude if organisations both governmental and non-governmental. The same will need to be established within the timeframe of implementation of the project.

b. Capacity building and manpower training: The new system would require the existing stake holders and clients to be trained for the effective roll out of the system. This is a massive effort that will need to be undertaken through in-house and outsourced efforts.

2. Handling of Legacy data

a. Migration of electronic and non-electronic data on pensions available with the department. Pension Sanction Authorities are maintaining physical records of all Defence pensioners since 1948 which consists pf pensioners claim form, discharge roll, service records, medical records and the corrigendum PPOs issued to them. These original documents are extremely valuable documents for the organisation and are to be retained for 75 years as per the Government of India mandate. Considering that there are around 25 lakh pensioners and based on the above estimate of 10 records per pensioner, the total number of records that will be part of this “Digitisation and Migration” project is around 2.5 crores. This is going to be a huge task as it also entails secure and deft handling of very old binders and documents.

b. Data Purification and unified level of Updation: Different automation systems exist with the various agencies handling pensions and their data structures are at variance. Further there is a deficiency/inaccuracy of data present in these databases. A major challenge exists in purifying and matching this data and then sourcing the missing data from the available sources. This activity would be more cumbersome with respect to very old data. Further, it is seen that there is mismatch of entitlements across various databases which require intervention for bringing it on to a uniform status. Our current efforts at this exercise have been quite difficult in terms of achieving desired results.

4. Status of the Project

The consultant has delivered the detailed project report and the finalisation of the RFP is under process by the department.

5. Cost of Implementation

The project cost as assessed by the consultant in his detailed project report alongwith the rough indicative cost of auxiliary components is tabulated below indicating year wise cash out flows over the project duration and operation period.

The total expenditure in the project phase would approximately be 158.04 crores under the DAD IT Head and is likely to span four financial years from 2017-28 to 2020-21 depending upon the actual time of conclusion of the contract with the system integrator. The year wise requirement of funds as proposed in the table above during he project phase may be required to be recast based on the milestones for payment falling within that particular financial year. The project would entail a committed liability of 15 crores starting from the completion of the project from 2021 onwards. This project would also require a yearly allotment of approximately Rs 10 crores under office contingency and Rs 2 crores under the transportation head to meet operational requirements under the centralised environment like expenditure on e-post services for postal service centres, conduct of Data Adalats/Pension Adalats to ensure complete coverage, hiring of system support manpower for service centres etc starting from the initiation of the project.

6. Approvals and Budget Commitments

The project is estimated to cost Rs 158.04 crores and required the go-ahead approval of the ministry for floating of RFP and also firm budget commitments towards the project cost as brought out above. It is requested that the ministry may accord in-principle approval for the project and necessary budgetary commitments for its implementation.

7. Mode of tendering

It is proposed to issue an Advertised Tender Enquiry for the project on a Two Bid System to identify the system integrator for the project.

ESTIMATED COST OF SPARSH

CORE COMPONENTS
		Amount (in crores)
		Year 1	Year 2		Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6	Year 7
Component	Activity	PROJECT PERIOD				MAINTENANCE PERIOD
Centralised Pension Package	Development	29.38
Centralised Pension Package	Maintenance			6.25	6.25	6.25	6.25	6.25	6.25
Data Centre 1	Development	10.42
Data Centre 1	Maintenance			1.62	1.62	1.62	1.62	1.62	1.62
Digitisation of Records		4.16		3.12	3.12
Sub Total		54.38		12.61	12.61	9.49	9.49	9.49	9.49
Contingency		2		.5	.5	.3	.3	.3	.3
Total		82.6				39.16

AUXILIARY COMPONENTS
		Amount (in crores)
		Year 1	Year 2	Year 3	Year 4	Year 5	Year 6	Year 7
Component	Activity	PROJECT PERIOD			MAINTENANCE PERIOD
Service Centres	(3lakhs 350 districts)	10.5	6.3	4.2	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Project Management Unit	Hiring of a Project Management team	1.18	1.18	1.18
Centralised Storage Facility	State of Art Record storage		15
Strengthening and Scaling up Internal Network	1. Consultancy 2. Upgradation of Bandwidth and Network technology	4.5	4.5	4.5	2.5	2.5	2.5	2.5
Capacity building of EDP staff	Certified courses in Networking and Security	0.3	0.3	0.3	0.2	0.2	0.2	0.2
Smart Pension Cards	Printing machine & Smart cards			30.05	0.7	0.7	0.7	0.7
Total		16.48	22.78	36.18	2.4	2.4	2.4	2.4
Total		75.44			9.6

Year-wise outgo of Funds during the project period is estimated to be as follows

YEAR	CORE COMPONENTS	AUXILIARY COMPONENTS	TOTAL
YEAR 1	56.38	16.48	72.86
YEAR 2	13.11	22.78	35.89
YEAR 3	13.11	36.18	49.29
TOTAL	82.6	75.44	158.04

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