Raising the stakes against the government on the issue of One Rank One Pension ahead of the 68th Independence Day, four respected and decorated former service chiefs have written to President Pranab Mukherjee requesting his intervention.
General SF Rodrigues (Retd), Admiral L Ramdas (Retd), Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) and Admiral Sureesh Mehta (Retd) wrote a strong worded letter drawing the President’s attention as the Supreme Commander of the armed forces in India.
The denial of OROP’s implementation has, “the potential to cause immense damage to India’s military edifice and hence, to our National Security” says the letter.
…denial of OROP is merely the last straw that has exhausted the Veterans’ patience. It appears to be the culmination of a process by which successive Pay Commissions have been used to whittle down the financial and protocol status of the military over the years vis-à-vis their civilian counterparts.
The letter states that the decline in the status of military in India “has been orchestrated” to make it “subservient to the bureaucracy.”
[...] there does not seem to be adequate realisation that this development has the potential for inflicting long-term damage to India’s proud and a-political military ethos. […] the recent developments have not only triggered a process of politicization of the Indian military, […] but also served to inflict grave damage on its morale and self-esteem.”
The letter further warns of severe damage to the 350-year-old tradition of officer-jawan relationship.
[…] there is a growing feeling in the rank and file that the senior armed forces leadership has not done enough to pursue their cause. An erosion of confidence such as this could inflict severe damage on the officer-jawan relationship.
( SOURCE- THE QUINT)You can read the full letter here.
Ex-servicemen reject Centre's latest proposal on OROP, say scheme must be implemented in letter and spirit
ReplyDeletePranay Upadhyay | CNN-IBN 09:46 AM IST Aug 13, 2015
New Delhi: In a big blow to the Narendra Modi government, the retired armed forces personnel have outrightly rejected the latest proposal on One Rank One Pension. The ex-servicemen have maintained that they do not want any change and do not want the OROP to be diluted. The veterans want OROP to be implemented in letter and spirit as approved by Parliament.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi may announce implementation of the long delayed OROP scheme on August 15 when India celebrates its 69th Independence Day.
The ex-servicemen, who have been protesting against the delay in the implementation of the scheme, said they will wait till August 15 for the announcement and if the government does not heed to their demands, they will step up their protests.
One Rank One Pension scheme has been a long-standing demand of nearly three-million ex-servicemen and war widows in the country. It seeks to ensure that a uniform pension is paid to defence personnel who retire at the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.
Reaching out to ex-servicemen, Modi had during a Lok Sabha election rally in early 2014 had said, "If Atal Bihari Vajpayee had come to power in 2004, the One Rank One Pension problem wouldn't have come up. He would have given retired defence officials and serving personnel the means to live with dignity."
What use are Submarines, Fighter Aircrafts and Powerful Artillery if the men to man those see their future like that of their retired brethern -- perpetually demoralised and humiliated by government after governments. The President must intervene and ask the Modi government to pay heed to the wise counsel of the Ex - Service Chiefs.
ReplyDeleteThis was very long overdue. I guess the current chief's can follow up on this through their direct channel with the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces of India.
ReplyDeleteStop this nonsense and let the Govt work on this. The OROP is only for PBOR and they deserved it.
ReplyDeleteIt is the right time that the Service Chiefs should either honour their commitment towards their command or put up their letter of resignation to the supreme commander,on moral grounds rather than going down in the eyes of their comrades.
ReplyDeleteThe current one is no Kalam and takes pride being a hardened Congressman and was so far instrumental in denail of OROP . The ex Chiefs are barking up the wrong tree after a long slumber. They should be at Jantar Mantar .
ReplyDeleteOROP whether materialises or not but the controversy associated with the JAWAN-JCO- OFFICER relationship has been in the offing. Officers including former chiefs have been using so called PBOR for redressing their grievences. My question to all officers including former chiefs:-
ReplyDelete(a) How many officers do retire at the age of 35 - 37 years ? If not any one, should stop using the name of JAWAN for their self gains.
(b) There is ardent need to understand the difference between bureaucrats and Army Officers. Army Officers do found .it difficult to manage a trivial issue of leave to a Jawan when he needs whereas their counterparts in the bureaucracy are managing such a loose dispensation like Indian Democracy.