One Rank One Pension to be finalised by Defence Ministry this week – Proposal to be sent to Finance Ministry
OROP is expected by more than 20 lakh Ex-Servicemen which was agreed in principal by Govt during February 2014
As
retried veterans of the armed forces converge on the national capital
to protest non-implementation of the “one rank-one pension” (OROP)
scheme on Sunday, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the
modalities will be finalised by next week and the file will be sent to
the Finance Ministry for further action.Parrikar, while speaking to
mediapersons on the sidelines of a defence function, said: “Discussions
are on to fix the modalities (for the OROP)… By next week, the view of
the Defence Ministry will be formed.”The OROP issue has been
fast-tracked, Parrikar said adding he had already held several meetings
on it. The scheme was sanctioned by the previous government on February
17 last year. On February 26, the then Defence Minister AK Antony issued
executive orders to implement OROP under the “approved” definition at
the earliest.
Parrikar
said as and when the exact implementation status for the scheme is
finalised by the Defence Ministry, it will be sent to the Ministry of
Finance. Parrikar had in December said if he could take the satisfaction
level (of the retired armed forces personnel) to 80-90 per cent, it
should be “a good enough solution”. This had not been taken kindly to by
the veterans who wanted a clarification on what the 80 per cent
satisfaction level meant.
The
Indian Ex-servicemen Movement (IESM) wanted to know the formula being
adopted for OROP saying it would not accept OROP other than the one
already accepted by the government.
The
definition accepted by the Ministry of Defence is the one the Rajya
Sabha Petitions Committee chaired by Bhagat Singh Koshyari suggested in
December 2011.
OROP, it said, “implies that uniform pension be paid to armed forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement, and any future enhancement in the rates of pension be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.”
