THIS IS NO POLITICAL STATEMENT BUT FACTS, VETERANS ARE REQUESTED TO DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS

Let us  disseminate info to all the ESM as well as civilians we know, to counter the propaganda of the govt that the "Govt has given OROP", which is misleading and a half-truth. It is not a question of a few paisas , but our contempt  by the Govt TO DEGRADE THE ARMED FORCES TO THE HILT.

OROP as announced by the govt has seven major shortcomings: the details are as follows:-

1. One Rank, One Pension (OROP) was already in force for the Armed Forces (AF) till it was quietly removed by the 3rd Pay Commission (PC) in 1973.

2. The 3rd PC  increased the pensions of civilian employees from 33% to 50%, and instead decreased the AF pension from 70% to 50%.Clubbing civilians with the military was unwise.

3. Non-Functional Financial Upgradation (NFFU or NFU) was surreptitiously introduced by the 6th PC in 2006 for 58 Civil Services, classifying them arbitrarily as “Organised Group ‘A’ Services”, but keeping the AF out of its ambit. NFU implies that if any officer of a service at any place serves in a post higher than others of his service, the others will get the same pay as the higher one after two years, irrespective of serving in any lower rank. This is OROP through the back door, since 80% IAS officials retire as Additional Secretaries vis-à-vis only 0.7% AF officers retiring as equivalents, i.e. Lt Gens. So the IAS gets the pension of Addl Secys.

 4. The financial burden of NFU for civil services is Rs. 17,000 crore, i.e. twice that of OROP at Rs. 8,293.6 crore. This does not apparently classify as “a burden on the poor”, which OROP is classified as.

5. Wild forecasts have been made of immense calculations required to be done every year to keep OROP as OROP. Such “immense calculations” are already being done annually for the NFU of civil servants! The imaginary problem is forecast only for the AF! If not done yearly but five-yearly, THEN four years juniors will get more pension than seniors, till equalised after five years.

6. All civilians retire at 60 yrs of age. 80% of AF personnel retire at 34-37 yrs of age, to keep the AF young. The early retirement deprives AF personnel from the benefits of one or two PCs, three or four promotions, and corresponding pensions of those ranks.

7. Having no marketable job skills, the employability of a Jawan, Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) or Junior Commissioned Officer (JCO) after retirement is virtually Nil: mostly as low-paid security staff; officers mostly as property brokers. Only a miniscule percentage manage to get good jobs.

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OPINION OF MR SOLI SORABJEE ON ABOVE BRIEF

I have gone through the executive summary made by you.The statement I am willing to make is as follows:-

The essential features of OROP have been accepted in principle by the government. Any purported changes now, if they would deny seniors of their hard earned benefits would be unfair and also demoralizing. The same would also affect the prestige of the institution of the Army which is held in deep reverence by all sections of our society.

Warm regards,

Yours sincerely

J.0?~- ~~

Soli J Sorabjee

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LT COL SUSHIL VOHRA (RETD)

(Source- Via group e-mail from BB GHAI VET) 

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