Over 40 years after it was first demanded, 84 days after military veterans upped the ante by sitting on dharna and even going on a fast-unto-death and following PM Narendra Modi's Independence Day pledge to deliver his poll promise, the Centre on Saturday announced im FULL COVERAGE: P13 plementation of `one rank, one pension' (OROP) for over 24 lakh ex-servicemen and 6 lakh war widows in the country .
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said the detailed government order for OROP would be issued in a month or so under the special category of “military pension“ to fulfill the commitment made by the PM “despite the huge fiscal burden“ of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore every year. “It's a matter of deep anguish that various governments remained ambivalent on the issue of OROP,“ he said.
The package announced on Saturday confirms the details published in TOI's front page report on September 5.
The drama did not end with the announcement as Parrikar met a delegation of veterans late on Saturday to address discontent over personnel opting for voluntary retirement being kept out of the benefits. “The minister agreed there is no VRS in the armed forces. So, OROP will be applicable in premature retirement cases also,“ said Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement chairman Major General (retd) Satbir Singh. Though the VRS was a major stumbling block, veterans still have some issues that they feel are not resolved, but Gen Singh said a call whether to continue the agitation at a meeting on Sunday morning.
With delay in the OROP announcement seen to hurt the government's credibility and the issue also figuring at the BJP-Sangh deliberations that ended on Friday , the OROP has been a major political problem for the government. BJP sees serving and ex-servicemen as a major constituency and the sentiment attached to giving veterans their due resonates with the party's “nationalist“ credentials, making resolution of OROP an urgent task.
The veterans welcomed the “intent“ to implement OROP but said they were some issues like the government's decision to allow “pension equalization“ only once every five years, and not a revision every two years as they had demanded to be considered. At his late evening with the veterans, Parrikar assured that the government will come out with “a clarification“ on the VRS issue in a day or two.
Officers and other ranks often opt for PMR after becoming eligible for pensions, on com pleting 20 years and 15-17 years of service respectively , since promotion avenues are extremely limited in the steeplypyramidal structure of the armed forces. This also keeps the forces young and fightingfit. Expressing “satisfaction“ on the PMR front, Maj-Gen Singh said there were “other issues“ still pending. “We will take the decision on whether to continue our agitation after talking to the core group,“ he said.
The veterans also demanded that the government reconsider its move to set up a onemember judicial committee to “thoroughly examine interests of retirees of different periods and different ranks“, consider inter-service issues and submit its report in six months. Instead, they said a five-member committee, with three of their representatives, should be set up to submit a report within 30 days.
The fact, however, remains that implementation of OROP will bridge the gap in pensions between veterans who have retired earlier and those who retire later, which had progressively increased with each Central Pay Commission every 10 years.Rough estimates show that while retired officers will get a monthly hike ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 22,000 over their existing pensions, jawans and junior commissioned officers will get Rs 2,200 to Rs 9,000.
But with the gap between the government and veterans on several issues still persisting, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, flanked by the three Service chiefs, merely read out a statement to announce implementation of OROP , without taking any questions.
Parrikar did, however, attack the previous UPA government for providing only Rs 500 crore in the February 2014 budget without specifying what OROP would be, how it would be implemented or how much it would cost. “The present government has accepted OROP in the true spirit without being constrained by inaccurate estimates,“ he said.
The package announced on Saturday confirms the details published in TOI's front page report on September 5.
The drama did not end with the announcement as Parrikar met a delegation of veterans late on Saturday to address discontent over personnel opting for voluntary retirement being kept out of the benefits. “The minister agreed there is no VRS in the armed forces. So, OROP will be applicable in premature retirement cases also,“ said Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement chairman Major General (retd) Satbir Singh. Though the VRS was a major stumbling block, veterans still have some issues that they feel are not resolved, but Gen Singh said a call whether to continue the agitation at a meeting on Sunday morning.
With delay in the OROP announcement seen to hurt the government's credibility and the issue also figuring at the BJP-Sangh deliberations that ended on Friday , the OROP has been a major political problem for the government. BJP sees serving and ex-servicemen as a major constituency and the sentiment attached to giving veterans their due resonates with the party's “nationalist“ credentials, making resolution of OROP an urgent task.
The veterans welcomed the “intent“ to implement OROP but said they were some issues like the government's decision to allow “pension equalization“ only once every five years, and not a revision every two years as they had demanded to be considered. At his late evening with the veterans, Parrikar assured that the government will come out with “a clarification“ on the VRS issue in a day or two.
Officers and other ranks often opt for PMR after becoming eligible for pensions, on com pleting 20 years and 15-17 years of service respectively , since promotion avenues are extremely limited in the steeplypyramidal structure of the armed forces. This also keeps the forces young and fightingfit. Expressing “satisfaction“ on the PMR front, Maj-Gen Singh said there were “other issues“ still pending. “We will take the decision on whether to continue our agitation after talking to the core group,“ he said.
The veterans also demanded that the government reconsider its move to set up a onemember judicial committee to “thoroughly examine interests of retirees of different periods and different ranks“, consider inter-service issues and submit its report in six months. Instead, they said a five-member committee, with three of their representatives, should be set up to submit a report within 30 days.
The fact, however, remains that implementation of OROP will bridge the gap in pensions between veterans who have retired earlier and those who retire later, which had progressively increased with each Central Pay Commission every 10 years.Rough estimates show that while retired officers will get a monthly hike ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 22,000 over their existing pensions, jawans and junior commissioned officers will get Rs 2,200 to Rs 9,000.
But with the gap between the government and veterans on several issues still persisting, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, flanked by the three Service chiefs, merely read out a statement to announce implementation of OROP , without taking any questions.
Parrikar did, however, attack the previous UPA government for providing only Rs 500 crore in the February 2014 budget without specifying what OROP would be, how it would be implemented or how much it would cost. “The present government has accepted OROP in the true spirit without being constrained by inaccurate estimates,“ he said.
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`Govt cheated on all points'
Ex-servicemen on Saturday said the government didn't accept some of their key demands and said their agitation would continue. Accusing the Centre of adopting dubious means ahead of Bihar polls, Colonel K D Pathak (retd) said, “It's cheating on all points, except agreeing on OROP's definition. It's aimed to delay implementation and create dissent between veterans.“ But Lt Gen (Retd) B T Pandit said: “We have to hope that sustained pressure from ex-servicemen, civil society and media will force government to provide what they committed.“
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FINALLY, OROP'S ON BUT HICCUPS STAY-Some key demands still unfulfilled, say agitators
A gitating veterans unhappy on Saturday over government's one rank one pension announcement mellowed down after a late-evening meeting with Defence minister Manohar Parrikar.Describing the interactions with Parrikar as “positive“ a representative of the negotiating team said the veterans would decide on whether they would go ahead with their September 12 mega rally in a day or two. This will depend on what the defence ministry comes up with, he said.
But on Saturday afternoon the veterans were pretty sore over the fact that the Centre still hadn't accepted five of their key demands, one of these being inclusion within OROP of those ex-servicemen who had taken voluntary retirement. After the Parrikarveterans discussions in the evening, the government gave an assurance on this saying it'd issue a clarification on the matter.
Colonel (retd) Charanjit Singh Khera, general secretary of Sanjha Morcha (Chandigarh), stressed the need to accept the VRS demand: “Premature retirees also get pension. They leave only when no promotion is due. Does the government want forces full of superseded officers and men?
The VRS clause is an afterthought and not acceptable.“
But even if this sticking point seemed to be getting resolved, there were at least four more outstanding issues to be resolved such as the review of pension every two years and the strength of the proposed judicial committee to work out the rollout of OROP .
Soon after the OROP an nouncement, Major General Satbir Singh, leader of the OROP stir, sounded unhappy: “Key issues raised over the last two months haven't been addressed.“ He talked of a rally the agitators were planning on September 12.
But on a more positive note, former chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said, “We need to accept the provision of review (of pension) every five years, considering an annual review would have to be a gigantic effort.“
Rejecting the one-member judicial committee clause, Brigadier (retd) Harwant Singh said the panel must have five members -three veterans, one army regular and a government representative. “ A one-member panel won't understand armed forces' working constraints,“ he said. But Lt Gen (Retd) B T Pandit differed, saying the OROP announcement was a big start. “We need to give time to the government to resolve these remaining issues and the ex-servicemen need to call off their agitation,“ he said.
Inputs from Delhi, Pune, Chennai and Chandigarh
But on Saturday afternoon the veterans were pretty sore over the fact that the Centre still hadn't accepted five of their key demands, one of these being inclusion within OROP of those ex-servicemen who had taken voluntary retirement. After the Parrikarveterans discussions in the evening, the government gave an assurance on this saying it'd issue a clarification on the matter.
Colonel (retd) Charanjit Singh Khera, general secretary of Sanjha Morcha (Chandigarh), stressed the need to accept the VRS demand: “Premature retirees also get pension. They leave only when no promotion is due. Does the government want forces full of superseded officers and men?
The VRS clause is an afterthought and not acceptable.“
But even if this sticking point seemed to be getting resolved, there were at least four more outstanding issues to be resolved such as the review of pension every two years and the strength of the proposed judicial committee to work out the rollout of OROP .
Soon after the OROP an nouncement, Major General Satbir Singh, leader of the OROP stir, sounded unhappy: “Key issues raised over the last two months haven't been addressed.“ He talked of a rally the agitators were planning on September 12.
But on a more positive note, former chief of air staff Air Chief Marshal P V Naik said, “We need to accept the provision of review (of pension) every five years, considering an annual review would have to be a gigantic effort.“
Rejecting the one-member judicial committee clause, Brigadier (retd) Harwant Singh said the panel must have five members -three veterans, one army regular and a government representative. “ A one-member panel won't understand armed forces' working constraints,“ he said. But Lt Gen (Retd) B T Pandit differed, saying the OROP announcement was a big start. “We need to give time to the government to resolve these remaining issues and the ex-servicemen need to call off their agitation,“ he said.
Inputs from Delhi, Pune, Chennai and Chandigarh
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`DOING POLITICS' - Govt diluted the package, claims Cong
Congress rejected the government's claim that it has resolved the long-standing `one rank one pension' (OROP) dispute, saying that the components of the decision announced on Saturday were a `betrayal' of the ex-servicemen community .
The OROP announcement marks the fulfilment of a promise to ex-servicemen by PM Modi and fixes a historic wrong dating to the 1970s when the Congress gov ernment slashed pension benefits of armed forces personnel, said BJP chief Amit Shah.Shah told TOI the government had worked hard on delivering on a complex issue that involved sentiment, chal lenging fiscal calculations and adjustment of ranks and benefits of pensioners. “The government's been working to resolve the issue almost since the moment the PM took oath of office. He repeated the pledge this year on Independence Day ,“ Shah said.
He said ex-servicemen received pensions amounting to 70% of last drawn salaries till 1973 before it was cut to 50%.“Ex-servicemen were put on a par with civil services and this injustice took 40 years to rectify. BJP was committed to ending this dispute,“ he said.
Though many ex-service men continue to express their opposition to the exclusion of officers who took voluntary retirement and the clause resetting pensions at five years instead of annually or biannually , the decision has implications for BJP that sees the fauji as an important part of its support base. OROP fig ured in recent Sangh Parivar discussions where Shah assured an early decision.
Accusing Congress of paying lip service to the OROP demand, Shah said: “The previous government allocated just Rs 500 crore for the implementation. This was a speck of what was required.No effort was made to resolve the contradictions and implement OROP .“
Shah said while ex-servicemen stand to benefit between Rs 9,000 crore-10,000 crore annually , the amount will increase over years. “The issue took time due its com plexity , but with cooperation of ex-servicemen organizations, the best possible deal ws worked out,“ he said.
Asserting that the government acted in ex-servicemen's interest while balancing the need to ensure the fiscal health, Shah said: “With help from ex-servicemen bodies and some individuals, it was possible to resolve the problem.“ BJP hopes the announcement will break in the deadlock with ex-servicemen.The protest had given the Opposition a handle to accuse the Centre of backtracking on a poll promise.
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“The government has substantially diluted the component of the OROP package,“ said former defence minister A K Antony, who held the ministry till the UPA was voted out of office.
The senior Congress leader criticized the government g for excluding former armed e forces personnel who had opted for voluntary retirer ment from the package.
, He said 90% of service t personnel retire between 35 t and 40 years of age. Antony e also took exception to defence r minister Manohar Parrikar's remarks that OROP was be l ing implemented for the first d time in four decades.“The de“ fence minister is doing poliB tics,“ Antony said.e But there was no certainty a on whether Congress would e participate in a rally being e called by agitating ex-servd icemen in Delhi soon, choos l ing instead to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi for having promised to fully im , plement OROP within 100 h days of coming to power.
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Historical injustice corrected, says Shah
The OROP announcement marks the fulfilment of a promise to ex-servicemen by PM Modi and fixes a historic wrong dating to the 1970s when the Congress gov ernment slashed pension benefits of armed forces personnel, said BJP chief Amit Shah.Shah told TOI the government had worked hard on delivering on a complex issue that involved sentiment, chal lenging fiscal calculations and adjustment of ranks and benefits of pensioners. “The government's been working to resolve the issue almost since the moment the PM took oath of office. He repeated the pledge this year on Independence Day ,“ Shah said.He said ex-servicemen received pensions amounting to 70% of last drawn salaries till 1973 before it was cut to 50%.“Ex-servicemen were put on a par with civil services and this injustice took 40 years to rectify. BJP was committed to ending this dispute,“ he said.
Though many ex-service men continue to express their opposition to the exclusion of officers who took voluntary retirement and the clause resetting pensions at five years instead of annually or biannually , the decision has implications for BJP that sees the fauji as an important part of its support base. OROP fig ured in recent Sangh Parivar discussions where Shah assured an early decision.
Accusing Congress of paying lip service to the OROP demand, Shah said: “The previous government allocated just Rs 500 crore for the implementation. This was a speck of what was required.No effort was made to resolve the contradictions and implement OROP .“
Shah said while ex-servicemen stand to benefit between Rs 9,000 crore-10,000 crore annually , the amount will increase over years. “The issue took time due its com plexity , but with cooperation of ex-servicemen organizations, the best possible deal ws worked out,“ he said.
Asserting that the government acted in ex-servicemen's interest while balancing the need to ensure the fiscal health, Shah said: “With help from ex-servicemen bodies and some individuals, it was possible to resolve the problem.“ BJP hopes the announcement will break in the deadlock with ex-servicemen.The protest had given the Opposition a handle to accuse the Centre of backtracking on a poll promise.
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Veterans' long-standing demand and the basis for it -
What is OROP?
`One rank one pension' refers to payment of uniform pension to military personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. This also includes any further enhancement in pension rates to be automatically passed on to past pensioners. The UPA government had announced OROP but left it to the NDA government to implement it. Veterans have been protesting in Delhi against the delay in implementing OROP .They have been insisting that the pensions be revised once a year but the government has opted for a reset every five years. For the current fiscal year, the government has budgeted Rs 54,500 crore for 54,500 crore for defence pension.
UPA had ini tially allocated only Rs 500 crore for OROP . The veterans were demanding that OROP be imple mented from April 1, 2014.
What is the status of Central government employees?
For central government employees (civilians), the government appoints a Pay Commis sion which revises the pay and pensions every 10 years. These recommendations become a benchmark for state-run firms and other government entities. Civilians who joined the central government from January 2004 have contributory pension under the National Pension Scheme which means they have to contribute 10% of their basic salary with a matching contribution from the government. Nearly all state government have opted for NPS while, even after 11 years, defence personnel are outside the ambit of NPS and the government funds the entire liability from the budget.
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Former defence personnel start counting their gains
The fine-print of the OROP formula is awaited but rough calculations show retired military officers' pension hike will range from Rs 8,000 to Rs 22,000 per month and jawans and JCOs will get Rs 2,200 to Rs 9,000 more every month.“But these are very complex calculations...the situation will be much clearer after the detailed government order comes out,“ said an officer.
While figures will vary from one retired personnel to another, here are three illustrative examples: --Havildar Major Singh, who was discharged from the Sikh Light Infantry in 1991, draws Rs 5,595 as monthly pension. “He will now get Rs 4,000 more every month,“ said one of his colleagues.
--A colonel who retired in 2001 gets Rs 44,000 as pension now. He will get Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 more per month.
--A brigadier who retired in April 1996 after 33 years of service, gets Rs 62,300 as monthly pension. “I have been told I will get at least Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 more after OROP ,“ he said.
While figures will vary from one retired personnel to another, here are three illustrative examples: --Havildar Major Singh, who was discharged from the Sikh Light Infantry in 1991, draws Rs 5,595 as monthly pension. “He will now get Rs 4,000 more every month,“ said one of his colleagues.
--A colonel who retired in 2001 gets Rs 44,000 as pension now. He will get Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 more per month.
--A brigadier who retired in April 1996 after 33 years of service, gets Rs 62,300 as monthly pension. “I have been told I will get at least Rs 9,000 to Rs 10,000 more after OROP ,“ he said.
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PARALLEL STIR - Splinter group on fast for JCOs, NCOs and jawans
A sizeable number of ex-servicemen has moved away from the main OROP agitation and joined another protest led by a body `exclusively for soldiers who retired as jawans, junior commissioned officers (JCOs) and non-commissioned officers (NCOs)'.True, senior officers leading the OROP stir are talking about problems jawans, JCOs and NCOs face, but their demands were mostly about fulfilling the needs of commissioned officers, the breakaway group claims.
“What about issues like equalized military service pay (MSP)? We jawans are always in the direct line of fire and face maximum threat to life in any conflict. But officers get higher remuneration on this account. The MSP for officers, military nursing services and JCOsother ranks are Rs 6,000, Rs 4,200 and Rs 2,000,“ Bir Bahadur Singh, national coordinator of the Voice of Ex-Servicemen Society (VESS) said. A jawan's family pension is a mere Rs 3,500 and it must be reviewed, Singh said.
At least four veterans who retired as jawans, hawaldar or subedar are on a parallel fast to press for their demands. “We have been protesting since August 23. A copy of our demands has been submitted to the PMO but there's no response. We haven't been involved in any meeting between the defence ministry and OROP protestors,“ said Hawaldaar (retired) Balwinder Singh.
Officers leading the main protest claim the group was propped by `vested interests' to weaken their agitation.
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“What about issues like equalized military service pay (MSP)? We jawans are always in the direct line of fire and face maximum threat to life in any conflict. But officers get higher remuneration on this account. The MSP for officers, military nursing services and JCOsother ranks are Rs 6,000, Rs 4,200 and Rs 2,000,“ Bir Bahadur Singh, national coordinator of the Voice of Ex-Servicemen Society (VESS) said. A jawan's family pension is a mere Rs 3,500 and it must be reviewed, Singh said.
At least four veterans who retired as jawans, hawaldar or subedar are on a parallel fast to press for their demands. “We have been protesting since August 23. A copy of our demands has been submitted to the PMO but there's no response. We haven't been involved in any meeting between the defence ministry and OROP protestors,“ said Hawaldaar (retired) Balwinder Singh.
Officers leading the main protest claim the group was propped by `vested interests' to weaken their agitation.
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OROP: Parrikar attacks UPA govt's Rs 500 cr budget in 2014
Some Issues Still Remain: Veterans
Over 40 years after it was first demanded, 84 days after military veterans upped the ante by sitting on dharna and even going on a fast-unto-death and following PM Narendra Modi's Independence Day pledge to deliver his poll promise, the Centre on Saturday announced im FULL COVERAGE: P13 plementation of `one rank, one pension' (OROP) for over 24 lakh ex-servicemen and 6 lakh war widows in the country .Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said the detailed government order for OROP would be issued in a month or so under the special category of “military pension“ to fulfill the commitment made by the PM “despite the huge fiscal burden“ of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore every year. “It's a matter of deep anguish that various governments remained ambivalent on the issue of OROP,“ he said.
The package announced on Saturday confirms the details published in TOI's front page report on September 5.
The drama did not end with the announcement as Parrikar met a delegation of veterans late on Saturday to address discontent over personnel opting for voluntary retirement being kept out of the benefits. “The minister agreed there is no VRS in the armed forces. So, OROP will be applicable in premature retirement cases also,“ said Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement chairman Major General (retd) Satbir Singh. Though the VRS was a major stumbling block, veterans still have some issues that they feel are not resolved, but Gen Singh said a call whether to continue the agitation at a meeting on Sunday morning.
With delay in the OROP announcement seen to hurt the government's credibility and the issue also figuring at the BJP-Sangh deliberations that ended on Friday , the OROP has been a major political problem for the government. BJP sees serving and ex-servicemen as a major constituency and the sentiment attached to giving veterans their due resonates with the party's “nationalist“ credentials, making resolution of OROP an urgent task.
The veterans welcomed the “intent“ to implement OROP but said they were some issues like the government's decision to allow “pension equalization“ only once every five years, and not a revision every two years as they had demanded to be considered. At his late evening with the veterans, Parrikar assured that the government will come out with “a clarification“ on the VRS issue in a day or two.
Officers and other ranks often opt for PMR after becoming eligible for pensions, on com pleting 20 years and 15-17 years of service respectively , since promotion avenues are extremely limited in the steeplypyramidal structure of the armed forces. This also keeps the forces young and fightingfit. Expressing “satisfaction“ on the PMR front, Maj-Gen Singh said there were “other issues“ still pending. “We will take the decision on whether to continue our agitation after talking to the core group,“ he said.
The veterans also demanded that the government reconsider its move to set up a onemember judicial committee to “thoroughly examine interests of retirees of different periods and different ranks“, consider inter-service issues and submit its report in six months. Instead, they said a five-member committee, with three of their representatives, should be set up to submit a report within 30 days.
The fact, however, remains that implementation of OROP will bridge the gap in pensions between veterans who have retired earlier and those who retire later, which had progressively increased with each Central Pay Commission every 10 years.Rough estimates show that while retired officers will get a monthly hike ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 22,000 over their existing pensions, jawans and junior commissioned officers will get Rs 2,200 to Rs 9,000.
But with the gap between the government and veterans on several issues still persisting, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, flanked by the three Service chiefs, merely read out a statement to announce implementation of OROP , without taking any questions.
Parrikar did, however, attack the previous UPA government for providing only Rs 500 crore in the February 2014 budget without specifying what OROP would be, how it would be implemented or how much it would cost. “The present government has accepted OROP in the true spirit without being constrained by inaccurate estimates,“ he said.
The package announced on Saturday confirms the details published in TOI's front page report on September 5.
The drama did not end with the announcement as Parrikar met a delegation of veterans late on Saturday to address discontent over personnel opting for voluntary retirement being kept out of the benefits. “The minister agreed there is no VRS in the armed forces. So, OROP will be applicable in premature retirement cases also,“ said Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement chairman Major General (retd) Satbir Singh. Though the VRS was a major stumbling block, veterans still have some issues that they feel are not resolved, but Gen Singh said a call whether to continue the agitation at a meeting on Sunday morning.
With delay in the OROP announcement seen to hurt the government's credibility and the issue also figuring at the BJP-Sangh deliberations that ended on Friday , the OROP has been a major political problem for the government. BJP sees serving and ex-servicemen as a major constituency and the sentiment attached to giving veterans their due resonates with the party's “nationalist“ credentials, making resolution of OROP an urgent task.
The veterans welcomed the “intent“ to implement OROP but said they were some issues like the government's decision to allow “pension equalization“ only once every five years, and not a revision every two years as they had demanded to be considered. At his late evening with the veterans, Parrikar assured that the government will come out with “a clarification“ on the VRS issue in a day or two.
Officers and other ranks often opt for PMR after becoming eligible for pensions, on com pleting 20 years and 15-17 years of service respectively , since promotion avenues are extremely limited in the steeplypyramidal structure of the armed forces. This also keeps the forces young and fightingfit. Expressing “satisfaction“ on the PMR front, Maj-Gen Singh said there were “other issues“ still pending. “We will take the decision on whether to continue our agitation after talking to the core group,“ he said.
The veterans also demanded that the government reconsider its move to set up a onemember judicial committee to “thoroughly examine interests of retirees of different periods and different ranks“, consider inter-service issues and submit its report in six months. Instead, they said a five-member committee, with three of their representatives, should be set up to submit a report within 30 days.
The fact, however, remains that implementation of OROP will bridge the gap in pensions between veterans who have retired earlier and those who retire later, which had progressively increased with each Central Pay Commission every 10 years.Rough estimates show that while retired officers will get a monthly hike ranging from Rs 8,000 to Rs 22,000 over their existing pensions, jawans and junior commissioned officers will get Rs 2,200 to Rs 9,000.
But with the gap between the government and veterans on several issues still persisting, defence minister Manohar Parrikar, flanked by the three Service chiefs, merely read out a statement to announce implementation of OROP , without taking any questions.
Parrikar did, however, attack the previous UPA government for providing only Rs 500 crore in the February 2014 budget without specifying what OROP would be, how it would be implemented or how much it would cost. “The present government has accepted OROP in the true spirit without being constrained by inaccurate estimates,“ he said.
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(SOURCE- TOI)
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