VETERANS PLAN JUNE RALLY FOR EQUAL PENSION

NEW DELHI: Their longstanding demand for one rank, one pension (OROP) still to be met, ex-servicemen are planning a big protest rally in Delhi on June 14 followed by hunger strikes across the country.

On Thursday, a 1971 war hero also declined to attend a function in Pune where defence minister Manohar Parrikar and Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis were to felicitate him. Wing Commander SD Karnik (retd) said he took the decision as there was “no action, talk only” by the government on OROP.

The pension scheme is aimed at ensuring retired soldiers of the same rank and same length of service receive the same pension, irrespective of their date of retirement.

Currently, all pre- 2006 ( the year the 6th pay panel recommendations became effective) pensioners receive less pension than not only their counterparts but also their juniors.

For instance, a major general who retired in 1995 draws a basic pension of R30,350 but an officer retiring in the same rank after 2006 gets R38,500. Similarly, a colonel who retired in 2003 gets R26,150, compared to R34,000 drawn by a colonel who retired this year.

The scheme is expected to benefit close to 3 million defence pensioners, including 600,000 widows. The initial corpus is estimated to be around R8,300 crore.

Various ex-servicemen groups were hoping Prime Minister Narendra Modi would make an announcement about the implementation of OROP on May 25 during a rally in Mathura to mark the government’s first year in office.

“We will do all we can to lodge our protest over non-implementation of OROP despite assuranc- es by the PM and defence minister. We plan to hold a big rally in Delhi on June 14 followed by hunger strikes across the country,” Major General Satbir Singh (retd), who heads the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement, said.

Navy chief Admiral Robin Dhowan on Thursday asked the veterans to be patient, stressing that the government was seized of the matter.

Decorated veterans have in the past returned their medals, gone on hunger strikes and signed petitions in blood to draw the government’s attention to OROP.

The UPA government had in 2009 declared that it had earmarked R2,200 crore annually to improve the pension of jawans, a step it described as partial implementation of OROP that had benefitted 1.2 million pensioners.