OROP arrears to be paid in four half-yearly installments; all widows, including war widows, to be paid arrears in one installment.
Government on Saturday announced the acceptance of the long-pending demand for ‘One Rank One Pension’ but the ex-servicemen who have been on agitation rejected the key details of the decision and said their 84-day long stir will continue.
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced in New Delhi that the government has decided to implement OROP under which there would be revision of pension every five years as against two years demanded by the exservicemen.
Mr. Parrikar made the announcement in the presence of the army chief, General Dalbir Singh, the naval chief, Admiral R.K. Dhowan, the air force chief,
Air Chief Marshal Aroop Raha and Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar.
The base year would be calender year 2013 for calculation of the OROP and it will be implemented from July 2014, Parrikar said while making it clear that ex-servicemen who have taken voluntary retirement would not be eligible for the scheme.
The government is also setting up a one-member judicial committee to work out details of implementation of the OROP which will file a report in six months, the Minister said.
OROP arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments; all widows, including war widows, to be paid arrears in one instalment.
Pension will be re-fixed for all pensioners retiring in the same rank and same length of service.
Veterans react
Reacting to the announcement, leader of agitating ex-servicemen
Maj Gen (Retd) Satbir Singh said while the veterans were satisfied with Government’s intention to implement the OROP, they made it clear that the proposed benefits were not acceptable to them.
Rejecting the provisions for pension revision after every five years and keeping those who take VRS out of the scheme among others, Mr. Singh said, “According to us government has accepted one of our demands and rejected six… at this point we cannot withdraw the agitation based on these details.”
Pension equalisation, an issue
Maj Gen Satbir Singh (Retd),
Chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen said the government while accepting the concept of the OROP, was still insisting on pension revision every five years and that is why it was thinking of constituting a committee.
Mr. Singh said after the meeting that in that case a representative of the veterans and one from the services should also be in the committee. He said the committee should not take more than one month.
Ahead of government’s likely announcement of OROP, Mr. Singh said government has broadly accepted the concept of the scheme and that they will study the details after it is made public.
The delegation, he said, presented their views on the sticky issues including pension equalisation.
“Government has accepted the OROP concept broadly,” the Chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen movement told reporters after the meeting.
‘No junior should get more pension than senior’
He said it was conveyed to the Defence Minister that no junior should get more pension than senior and that there is nothing like Voluntary Retirement Service in defence forces.
Sounding a conciliatory note, Mr. Singh said the government has accepted 60 per cent of the demands of the ex—servicemen.
He, however, said the “bone of contention” — revision of pension — still remains.
Parrikar meets Amit Shah
Later a BJP leader said all demands of the ex-servicemen have been accepted except the pension revision demand.
BJP MP Meenakshi Lekhi, who was present at the party chief’s house, said government is close to announcing a solution that will cost the exchequer at least Rs 10,000 crore.
The ex-servicemen have been demanding that the pension revision should take place at least in every two years while government has proposed a five-year revision.
All about OROP:
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Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced thedecision to implement the One Rank One Pension, w.e.f July 1, 2014.
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OROP arrears to be paid in four half-yearly instalments; all widows, including war widows, to be paid arrears in one instalment.
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The ex-servicemen, who have been agitating for the last 82 days, said they will not accept review of the pension after every five years.
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It is understood that a draft proposal on OROP was circulated at a RSS meeting on Friday, which envisaged commencement of the scheme from July 2014, besides revision of pension every five years.
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Veterans have opposed to excluding ex-servicemen, who had opted for pre-mature retirement, from the ambit of OROP.
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Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar announced the setting up of a One member Judicial Committee, which will give its report on OROP in six months.
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Veterans have rejected this committee, and instead demanded a committee under the Defence Minister which will include an ex-serviceman too.
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To begin with, OROP would be fixed on the basis of calender year 2013.
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Officials said the annual burden on the pension bill will be about Rs. 8,000 crore which would progressively go up with revision in pensions. The current pension bill of the defence ministry stands at Rs. 54,000 crore.
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Close to 22 lakh retired servicemen and over six lakh war widows stand to be the immediate beneficiaries of the scheme. |
SOURCE – THE HINDU
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