President visits AIIMS to see PM

President Pratibha Patil today visited AIIMS to enquire about the health of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is recuperating after a coronary by-pass surgery, and wished him a speedy recovery.

The President met the Prime Minister's wife Gursharan Kaur and one of his daughters and spent about 20 minutes with them, a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson said. "Kaur told the President that the Prime Minister is recovering speedily.

The President wished him a speedy recovery," the spokesperson said. During her visit, security was tightened in and around the hospital. The entrance gates were closed causing inconvenience to patients and visitors at the premier hospital.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also visited the hospital to enquire about Prime Minister's heath. Omar met Prime Minister's wife Gursharan Kaur at AIIMS and spent nearly 20-minutes there. Omar also conveyed good wishes of the people of his state for the Prime Minister's quick recovery.

Source: http://www.mid-day.com/news/2009/jan/280109-President-Patil-visits-PM-at-AIIMS.htm

New Year Bonanza for Armed Forces

New Delhi In a major New year bonanza for the armed forces, the Prime Minister's Office has informed the Defence Ministry that the armed forces personnel would henceforth have a separate pay commission, which is delinked from the civilian pay panel.

In a communication to the Defence Ministry the PMO also granted the demand for placing 12,000 odd Lieutenant Colonels under equivalence in Navy and Air Force in the pay band four of the sixth central pay commission.

However, the PMO, which considered the recommendations of the ministerial committee headed by External Affairs minister Pranab Mukherjee, said that the pay band four status with a grade pay of Rs 8000 would be accorded to Lieutenant Colonels who were performing a combat role or were ready for combat.

Those Lieutenant Colonels on deputation to other services would receive the pay band four status only when they return to their parent service.

Another demand accepted by the PMO concerned the jawans, for whom the government would restore the 70 per cent pensionary weightage.

Till the government implements the sixth pay commission's recommendations for allowing retired armed forces personnel's lateral entry into paramilitary and central police forces, the 70 per cent weightage would continue.

The present PMO communication, sent to the Defence Ministry in the last week of December, however, is silent on the two other core demands of the armed forces: placing the Lieutenant Generals in the higher administrative grade plus pay scales and bringing grade pay of officers from Captains to Brigadiers on par with their civilian counterparts.

But, conceding to the Defence personnel's demand the PMO said it would set up a high powered committee to review the command and control functions, and the status of the armed forces vis-a-vis that of their civilian and paramilitary counterparts.

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