In a rare gesture, the government on Tuesday announced a special pay and other facilities for two surviving marshals of the country's armed forces as a 'mark of the country's deepest gratitude.'
An official statement of the defence ministry said the army's Field Marshal S H F J Manekshaw, currently ailing at a military hospital in Nilgiri, and Marshal of IAF Arjan Singh will be entitled to full salary and allowances equivalent to that for serving chiefs of the two services.
The two marshals were only being paid pension till now.
While 93-year-old Manekshaw was appointed field marshal in 1973 for leading the armed forces to victory in the 1971 war against Pakistan, 88-year-old Singh was appointed the first marshal of the IAF in 2002.
Singh was the country's youngest IAF chief at the age of 44 years and defended the country's airspace during the 1965 war against Pakistan.
Defence Secretary Shekhar Dutt will fly to Chennai on Wednesday to personally hand over to Manekshaw the letter hiking the benefits.
The new package, framed 'as a mark of the country's deep appreciation of the invaluable services rendered' by them, will be effective from the date they began holding these ranks.
Besides, the two marshals will be entitled to residential accommodation or a rent allowance and leave travel concession according to rules applicable to the service chiefs.
Facilities like a staff officer, a nominated staff car, medical facilities and an official hospitality allowance will be made available to them. The two dignitaries will also be extended the status of state guest on visits to any state.
Referring to the move, a senior official said: 'It is a gesture towards giving deserved recognition to the country's old heroes.'
India's armed forces have had only three marshals. The third, Field Marshal B C Cariappa, the first commander in chief of the Indian Army, died in 1993 at the age of 94.
No officer has risen to attain the rank of first sea lord, the equivalent of marshal in the navy. President A P J Abdul Kalam, the supreme commander of the armed forces, recently air-dashed to Nilgiri to call on ailing Manekshaw. While writing in the hospital's visitors' book, Kalam directed doctors to take special care of Manekshaw, whom he described as a 'brave son of the soil.'
