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Centre formula: 1 rank, 3 pensions

Published On : 03 Sep 2015


New Delhi, Sept 2 (The Telegraph): The Centre and veteran soldiers have intensified efforts to reach a compromise on the demand for one rank one pension (OROP) for ex-servicemen before the announcement of elections in Bihar, likely on Sunday.

Talks were stalled after finance minister Arun Jaitley rejected the veterans' demand for revision of pension every year. Rajeev Chandrasekhar, an Independent member of the Rajya Sabha who is now part of the mediations, has urged the veterans to agree to revision every three years because the finance ministry is concerned about the cumulative impact of the pensions' bill that will rise every year.

Between 45,000 and 55,000 soldiers retire from the army alone every year. There are about 26 lakh ex-servicemen and war widows who are paid pensions across the country.


"I am deeply concerned about the ongoing hunger strike by veterans at Jantar Mantar. The government is engaged in finalising the definition of One Rank, One Pension (OROP), so I urge the veterans and plead Havildar Major Singh, whose fast entered 19th day to break off the fast," Chandrasekhar said in a statement this evening.

The government has offered to revise pensions once every five years. But the PMO and the finance ministry may agree to a revision every three years, sources involved in the mediation believe.

While that goes against the definition of one rank one pension as described by a parliamentary committee headed by BJP MP Bhagat Singh Koshiary, it may mean a compromise on a formula such as "one rank, three (or more) pensions".

OROP presupposes that officers and soldiers of the armed services who have served in the same rank for the same length of time will draw the same amount of pension irrespective of the date of retirement.

For example, a lieutenant colonel who retired in, say, 1965 should be entitled to the same amount as pension that a lieutenant colonel retiring in 2015, 50 years later, will be drawing.

"Vis-a-vis the ongoing debate/discussion of OROP definition, it is my view that while the purist definition of OROP does imply an annual normalisation of past pensioners to current levels - this annual normalisation process is neither feasible or practical," said Chandrasekhar.

"Normalisation is a core part of the OROP definition without any doubt - but I would urge the veterans to accept a normalisation process once every 3 years," he suggested.

There is also a division among the ex-servicemen protesting at New Delhi's Jantar Mantar and some 50 other towns and cities. Many veterans who retired as personnel below officer rank are more amenable to the government formula.

Two delegations of veterans met defence minister Manohar Parrikar earlier in the week. Parrikar told them that he had sent his proposal and the issue was now being dealt with by the Prime Minister's office.

OROP was promised by Modi in the run-up to his election last year. In September last year, at the Siachen Glacier, he even claimed that the demand for OROP has been fulfilled.

Photo credit: The Telegraph







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