NEW DELHI: Indian diplomats, who are often wracked by foreign duties taking precedence over filial obligations, are going through heartache after their hopes for special sops were belied by the seventh pay commission report last month.
Ageing parents are akin to children who need extra care, and Indian Foreign Service (IFS) officers on overseas assignments live with the anguish of staying away from them. It’s not that they can’t take their parents along, but the exorbitant health costs in developed countries make it tough for them to take care of elderly parents.
Faced with this peculiar trouble, unlike other elite cadres, IFS officers had requested special emoluments from the Ashok Kumar Mathur-led Seventh Pay Commission.
“We had told the commission that we are in a special situation (among all central services). Out of our 30-35 years of service, two-third is spent abroad and when they need us most, we can’t look after our parents,” said a senior IFS official.
While not extending full medical expenses abroad for the parents, the pay panel suggested a proposed health insurance scheme for government officers could be extended to dependants of Indian officers posted abroad, after they pay the premium.
However, this sop from the panel is not satisfactory to most IFS officers. “We will discuss it a meeting of the IFS association and decide how to take it forward,” said an official.
For IFS officers, the sense of guilt is sometimes overwhelming, especially conditioned by Indian society where taking care of elderly parents is a fixed responsibility. According to latest official figures, 75 per cent of IFS officers are aged over 40. The biggest chunk of officers—40 per cent—are in the oldest age bracket of 50-60 years.
The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) guidelines do give reimbursement for dependant parents of officials posted abroad. But the problem is the criteria, determined in accordance with central norms. According to Central Government Health Scheme criteria, the income of ‘dependant’ parents, including through pensions, should not exceed `3,500 per month. “By this definition, hardly any of our parents qualify,” said a senior MEA official.
The pay panel report came as a surprise, as the commission members seemed convinced about the officers’ logic during their two meetings. “We explained that it was not just an issue of financial dependence, but also emotional dependence,” said an MEA official, adding “they agreed with us then”.
Listening to the officers’ representation, a panel member apparently quipped that IFS “seemed to be the only parent-loving cadre in India”.
With law making it mandatory for children to take care of their parents, an official said the current guidelines force diplomats to “abandon” their parents once they leave India for foreign postings. “The state is forcing us to not follow our legal obligation,” he said.
Meanwhile, IFS officers have been mainly silent spectators to the ongoing tussle over the issue of pay parity between IAS, IFS and other central services.
“Only IAS has a problem with pay parity. We don’t have a problem. But we have to be on the same level as IAS, which we have maintained since Independence,” said an official.