One Rank One Pension promise in peril? - Times of India Article
One Rank One Pension promise in peril?
Military veterans claim babus are thwarting PM Modi's poll pledge of one-rank-one-pension by inflating its cost estimates
Roman emperor Augustus started the
tradition of military pensions in 13 BC, when every legionary who had fought 20
years for Rome was guaranteed a pension for-life. It set the bar for modern
armies, and independent India continued the British tradition of financially privileging military service until the mid-1970s, when soldiers were paid more than
civilian bureaucrats, in service and after retirement. All that changed with
the Third Pay Commission, which brought military salaries in line with civil services, and while soldiers have long complained
about political control over the military in independent India mutating into
bureaucratic control, a row over the NDA's promise for one-rank-one-pension
(OROP) for military veterans is raising questions about the government's ability to translate its
intent into action.
Fifteen months after Narendra Modi
first demanded it immediately after being anointed the BJP's PM candidate, 10
months after the UPA government granted it, five months after NDA's finance
minister Arun Jaitley confirmed it and almost two months after the PM told
soldiers in Siachen that it was his "destiny that onerank-one pension has
been fulfilled", military veterans are questioning why the promise has still not been implemented.
Number games
Put simply, OROP means that every
pension-eligible soldier who retires in a particular rank deserves the same
pension, irrespective of date of retirement. Currently, soldiers who left the armed forces more recently receive
more than those who did earlier, because successive pay commissions hiked salaries. Two days after he was anointed BJP's PM-candidate in September
2013, Modi vehemently supported the OROP demand at a veterans' rally in Rewari.
With roughly 12 lakh veterans also constituting a huge vote-bank, UPA
government approved the demand in February 2014, and it was reaffirmed by NDA
in July, when finance minister Arun Jaitley specifically provisioned Rs 1,000
crore in his 2014-15 budget (within an overall defence pensions budget of Rs
51,000 crore). Yet, it remains stuck in bureaucratic wrangling.
PAY OR PLAY
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Until 1973
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9 Sep 2009
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May 2010
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19 Dec 2011
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15 Sep 2013
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Armed
forces had OROP and higher pay than civilian counterparts. Third Pay
Commission reversed this and equated military pay with civilian pay
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Supreme
Court: “No Defence Personnel Senior in rank can get lesser pension than his
junior irrespective of the date of retriement" and "Similarly
placed officers of the same rank are to be given the same pension
irrespective of the date of retirement
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Standing
Committee on Defence2009-10, 7th Report recommends holistic implementation of
OROP
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Rajya
Sabha Committee on Petitions, 142ndReport, headed by BJP MP Bhagat
Singh Koshiyari, recommends OROP implementation
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Modi,
at his first rally after being chosen BJP‘s PM candidate, demands 'white
paper' on status of OROP, says Vajpayee would have implemented if he had
returned to power in 2004
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