Delhi: Ravindra Dholakia, economics professor at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad, was part of the core team that drew up the Sixth Pay Commission report. Jumana Shah of DNA caught up with him after the report.
Your reaction to the announcement.. I am very happy that the recommendations have been accepted practically in toto. I am particularly pleased because some of them are path-breaking, bold and innovative. They will have very important and far-reaching impact on the country. The primary gist is to enable the government to attract young talent and retain intellectual capital for better performance of the government.
What about linking pay to performance? We have been told none of our recommendations have been removed. Only some small alterations have been made for those sections that made special representations such as the armed forces.
As I understand, the performance-linked incentives model has been accepted.
Other bold suggestions such as contract-based appointments at the highest level and lateral placements of armed forces personnel after retirement have also been accepted. Contract appointment, we hope, will bring profound changes in government as they can now attract talent from the private sector as well. Salary can be negotiated across the table, just like in the corporate sector.
On whether the upward revision of pay will pinch the economy According to our recommendations, there would have been an expenditure increase of Rs 12,000 crore for the exchequer. In the revised estimates, it goes up to Rs 18,000 crore, approximately. But in the final implementation, there have been minor changes in the terms of disbursement of arrears, which should ease the burden this fiscal. This might affect inflation -- it may take a couple of months more for it to come down to 10% from 12%.
What about pay revisions for the armed forces? The country can never pay the Army enough. They are paying us with their lives. Whatever we pay will always be less, so in that sense the revision is justified. However, people dont join the armed forces for money.
