Not sure how many people know about the so called apex scale in Indian bureaucracy. This is the highest scale at which bureaucrats in India can retire. Some years back, they introduced One Rank One Pension for (only) those bureaucrats who reach this level before retirement. In some sense, this is a preferential treatment given by the top bureaucrats to themselves. I believe this should be abolished. The idea of one rank one pension is indeed flawed. It causes unnecessary load on the exchequer. And if it is awarded to military persons, I don't see any reason why it shouldn't be awarded to other government servants also. After-all, teachers also serve the nation! The only thing worthwhile is some sort of compensation to military people in pay commissions since they retire much earlier. This I believe is done in form of dearness allowances so far. In general, the focus should be on ensuring that during the military career, or just after it, people get trained enough so that they can easily get good jobs in civilian life and can continue to earn their living for doing real work and contributing to the growth of the nation. Living off pensions for able bodied persons is not a great way of living in my view. I don't have the statistics but my guess is that most of the military veterans do get absorbed in decent civilian roles post retirement. I would also mention that armed forces have different provisions for martyrs and people who get physically disabled while on duty.
