Military personnel posted to ‘hard’ or high-altitude regions receive the risk and hardship allowance, depending on their rank and the gradation of the area
Indian Armed Forces will now get as much as their counterparts from the CAPF on hardship allowances. It was only in 2019 that personnel from the CAPF received more of it following the Pulwama attack. AFP
Personnel from the Indian Armed Forces will now be on par with their counterparts from the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) when it comes to the matter of hardship and risk allowances.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh announced on Thursday at the ongoing Army Commanders’ Conference that the Armed Forces personnel posted at the same location as the CAPF personnel will receive the same amount, removing the existing disparity.
The revised rates are applicable with retrospective effect from 22 February 2019.
The decision to change the risk and hardship allowance for the Armed Forces came after the Department of Defence raised the issue in March 2019 and by the Department of Military Affairs in March 2020. After due deliberations among all affected stakeholders, it was submitted by the then chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee to the defence minister, where it was subsequently approved.
Here’s a better understanding of what is hardship allowance and who is eligible for it?
What’s hardship allowance?
Personnel belonging to the Indian Armed Forces receive different allowances apart from the salary and the House Rent Allowances (HRA).
In case of service personnel posted to areas, which are notified by the government to be ‘hard’ areas or high-altitude areas, they get allowances, depending on their rank and the gradation of the area.
For example, parts of Kashmir, which are disturbed, personnel serving there could get a hardship allowance.
In some cases, like Siachen — the world’s highest battlefield — personnel deployed could get both hardship and high-altitude allowance.
Personnel serving in these areas also get snow clothing and ‘special rations’.
Past raises in hardship allowance
In 2017, the Centre had more than doubled the risk and hardship allowance for armymen in Siachen and hiked the same for security forces deployed for counter insurgency operations and in Naxal-hit areas.
The rate of Siachen Allowance paid to soldiers deployed at the highest battlefield in the world was then increased to Rs 30,000 from Rs 14,000 per month, and for officers, it had gone up to Rs 42,500 a month from Rs 21,000 for extreme risks and hardships.
The high-altitude allowance had been raised to Rs 2,700- Rs 25,000 per month, from Rs 810-16,800. The Counter Insurgency Operations (CI Ops) allowance went up to Rs 6,000-Rs 16,900 per month, from Rs 3,000-Rs 11,700, an official statement said here.
Hardship allowances for CAPFs
Just as some military personnel receive these allowances, so do personnel from the CAPF, which comprises of the Assam Rifles, the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the National Security Guard (NSG) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).
Personnel from the CAPF who work in difficult or operational areas like Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and the Northeastern region receive this allowance.
Areas in Jammu region that fall on the Line of Control (LoC) are covered.
Dangerous Naxal-infested districts like Sukma, Dantewada, Bijapur, Narayanpur, Bastar (Chhattisgarh), Latehar (Jharkhand), Gadchiroli (Maharashtra) and Malkangiri (Odisha) are also covered.
Post the 2019 suicide bombing in Jammu and Kashmir, which killed 40 troopers of a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy, the Ministry of Home Affairs enhanced the risk allowance to the personnel in disturbed areas.
The Risk and Hardship Allowance for the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) or paramilitary personnel was then increased from Rs 9,700 to Rs 17,300 per month for troops up to the rank of Inspector and from Rs 16,900 to Rs 25,000 for officers.
CRPF spokesperson M Dhinakaran was then quoted by Hindustan Times as saying, “It is a recognition of risk and hardship that the troops face serving in the most challenging regions.”
This was when the hardship allowance of the CAPF increased compared to those of the Armed Forces.
With inputs from agencies
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