Veterans fume as PM says OROP has various definitions
The resentment among ex-servicemen over the failure of the NDA government to implement one rank, one pension (OROP) scheme in its first year has been fuelled further, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi saying there were “varied versions” regarding the definition of OROP.
In an interview to The Tribune, Modi said the government was “in constant discussions with the armed forces personnel to arrive at a please-all definition of OROP of which there are varied versions.”
Former army deputy chief lieutenant general Raj Kadyan, who has been at the forefront of the OROP campaign, said, “The PM has not been correctly briefed if he is saying the definition of OROP needs to be worked out. So far, the veterans were disappointed. Now, they are disillusioned and confused. The PM’s facts don’t match ground reality.”
Modi did say in the interview that no one should have any doubts about OROP’s implementation, but ex-servicemen don’t seem to be convinced.
Major general Satbir Singh ( retd), who heads the Indian Ex-servicemen Movement, said, “We are deeply saddened by the PM’s comments… He has been briefed wrongly by bureaucrats.”
Last week, veterans had decided to boycott official functions, hold rallies and go on hunger strikes in protest. On Thursday, a 1971 war hero declined to attend a function in Pune where defence minister Manohar Parrikar was to felicitate him.
The pension scheme is aimed at ensuring that retired soldiers of the same rank and the same length of service receive the same pension, irrespective of their date of retirement. The initial corpus of the scheme is estimated to around ` 8,300 crore. The OROP is expected to benefit close to 3 million defence pensioners.
Currently, all pre-2006 (when the 6th pay panel report became effective) pensioners receive lesser pension than their counterparts and also their juniors. For instance, a major general who retired in 1995 draws a basic pension of ` 30,350 but an officer retiring in the same rank after 2006 gets ` 38,500.