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 given conditioning 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 MEA guidelines do give reimbursement for dependant parents of officials posted abroad. But the problem is the criteria, determined in accordance with central norms.