Officers Ranks , Promotions in the Armed Forces, facilities and allowances
Ranks
The following chart gives the rank their equivalence in all three arms.
Lieutenant Sub Lieutenant Flying Officer
Captain Lieutenant Flight Lieutenant Major Lieutenant Commander Squadron Leader Lt Colonel Commander Wing Commander Colonel Captain Group Captain
Brigadier Commodore Air Commander
Major General Rear Admiral Air Vice Marshal
Lt General Vice Admiral Air Marshal
VCAS/GOC-IN-C VCNS/C-IN-C VCAS/AOC-IN-C
General Admiral Air Chief Marshal
Admissible allowances
The following are allowances which are admissible to all officers.
-- Out fit - once in 7 yrs
-- Kit maintenance
-- Dearness allowance
-- City compensatory
-- Separation allowance
-- Disturbance allowance
-- Expatriation
-- Qualification grants
-- High altitude allowance are admissible as per Govt rules
The following are the allowances which are admissible to certain specialisation, courses and inclement postings:
-- Flying pay to pilots in Airfare, navy and Army
-- Submarine pay in Navy
-- Specialist and technical pay.
--Technical pay to graduates in Engineering and specialist pay to medical officers.
-- High altitude and field area allowance
-- Diving allowance
-- Survey pay in Navy
Other facilities
The following are the other facilities which are common to all 3 services but are not easy to come by in civilian life.
Leave travel - Leave benefit and travel concessions for officers and their
families.
Accommodation - Furnished accommodation at concessional rates according to rank and marital status.
Medical - Free medical treatment in Service hospitals for Officers and their families.
Food - Officers are entitled for free ration
Schooling and transport for children -
Concession in tuition fee and school transport facility are available to children
Group insurance scheme - Officers are covered under the scheme.
Housing scheme - The three services have special housing scheme for officers.
Loans - Granted for House building/car/scooter as per scales provided by the Government from time to time.
Pension - Apart from regular pension other schemes such as Disability pension, Invalid pension Gratuity, Family pension, special family pension are also provided.
Resettlement prospects - Officers are provided with job oriented training for resettlement prospects on retirement.
Promotions in the three services
Army -
Promotion policy followed in the Army is as follows :
Substantive promotions - The following are the service limits for the grant of the substantive promotion to higher ranks:
By time scale By Selection
Lt Inducted as Commissioned officer Lt. Col. 16 years of Commissioned Service
Capt. 4 years of Commissioned Service Col. 20 years of Commissioned Service
Major 10 years of Commissioned Service Brigadier 23 years of Commissioned Service
Lt. Col. 20 years of Commissioned Service Major Gen. 25 years of Commissioned Service
Lt. Gen. 28 years of Commissioned Service General No restrictions
Acting promotion - Officers are eligible for acting promotion to higher ranks on completion of the following minimum service limits subject to availability of vacancies. They will only get the rank pay and not the substantive pay of the rank.
Captain 3 years
Colonel 8 1/2 years
Major 6 years
Brigadier 12 years
Lt. Colonel 6 1/2 years
Major General 20 years
Lt. Gen 25 years
Navy - Promotion policy followed in the Navy is as follows :
By time scale
Ag.Su.Lieut to Sub Lieut Inducted as commissioned officer
Sub Lieut to Lieut 4 years of Commissioned Service
Lieut to Lieut Cdr. 10 years seniority as Lieut
Lieut Cdr. to Cdr. 20 years (reckonable commissioned service)
(if not promoted by selection)
By Selection
Lieut Cdr. to Cdr. 2-8 years seniority as Lieut Cdr.
Cdr. to Capt. 4 years seniority as Cdr.
Capt. to Rear Admiral and above. No service restriction
Air Force
After successful completion of training candidates pass out in the rank of Flying Officer and become entitled to the pay and allowances of the rank. Air Force offers good career prospects though it varies from branch to branch.
There are two types of promotions in the IAF, i.e. grant of higher Acting rank and Substantive rank. Each high rank carries with it extra emolument. Depending on the number of vacancies one has a good number of chances to get promotion to the higher Acting rank.
Time-scale promotion to the rank of Squadron Leader and Wing Commander is granted after successful completion of 10 years of Flying (Pilot) branch and 20 years of service respectively. Grant of higher rank from Wing Commander and above is by selection, carried out by duly constituted promotion boards. Promising Officers have good chances of higher promotion.
