NEW DELHI The Narendra Modi government is all set to officially announce implementation of the contentious one-rank-one -pension (OROP) scheme for ex-servicemen.
A draft to this effect is ready and a formal announcement to this effect is expected over the weekend. Under the proposal, the government intends to use 2013 as the base year and it will become effective from July 1, 2014 for little over 2.4 million ex-servicemen and nearly 600,000 widows who are entitled for lifetime pension.
The decision to roll out OROP without any further delay was taken after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party’s ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) threw its weight behind the agitating former defence personnel during the three-day review meeting it had with senior BJP leaders including Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The review meeting ended on Friday.
Sources in the BJP also suggested that besides the RSS pressure, the government is also in a haste to beat formal announcement of Bihar assembly elections by the Election Commission expected next week. Government is debarred from announcing any new scheme after the model code of conduct comes into effect following announcement of the poll schedule.
The proposed scheme, when implemented, will entail additional expenditure of Rs210 million (Dh11.6 million) per year as the total pension amount for ex-servicemen will go up from the existing Rs540 billion to Rs750 billion.
The agitating ex-servicemen, however, rejected the proposal and announced that they would hold mega rally in New Delhi on September 12.
Government’s proposal to review equal pension for all those retiring from the same post every five years is not acceptable to them. A delegation of ex-servicemen led by Major General (retired) Satbir Singh conveyed the government that they are willing to relent on a two-year review if an annual review was not possible.
One of the contentions of the defence personnel is that unlike in civil services about 85 per cent of them retire at the age of 40 and after having given sacrificed their youth in service of the country, they deserve proper pension for the rest of their lives.
“What we are asking for is our right and not goodies from the government,” said Maj Gen Satbir Singh at Jantar Mantar where the ex-servicemen are holding hunger strike for the past three weeks.
“All ex-servicemen are united. Even those soldiers who are settled abroad are with us... We will accept only what is our just due and nothing less than that is acceptable,” Satbir Singh said while threatening to escalate their agitation.
India followed OROP policy until 1973 when the then Indira Gandhi government scrapped it due to financial constraints it imposed on the economy. The ex-servicemen have since been fighting for it.
One of the major worries of the government is its cascading impact as personnel of federal security forces and other government employees will also be encouraged to launch agitations demanding similar schemes.
