'One rank, one pension' plan may be unveiled today during PM Narendra Modi's rally in Mathura

[Techy]

OROP mechanism has a corpus of about Rs 8,300 crore for over 25 lakh ex-servicemen, who have been demanding it for long.

NEW DELHI: The government is finally set to announce the implementation of the onerank, one-pension (OROP) mechanism with a corpus of about Rs 8,300 crore for over 25 lakh ex-servicemen, who have been demanding it for long.

Government sources on Sunday said OROP is likely to be announced during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Mathura on Monday to mark the first anniversary of the NDA government. Incidentally, Rahul Gandhi and former defence minister A K Antony had both attacked the Centre for "criminal inaction" in delaying its rollout which the UPA regime had announced on February 2014.

As first reported by TOI, the Modi government has defined "military pension" separate from other kinds of pensions, to justify implementation of OROP , since soldiers, sailors and airmen as well as their officers retire much younger than other government employees.

OROP implies payment of a uniform pension to personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their retirement date. For instance, two officers who served as colonels for seven years will get the same pension even if they retired a decade apart.

Past governments had contended that granting full OROP was neither financially nor administratively possible since it could lead to a cascading effect with similar demands from others like paramilitary personnel. But the government is convinced that the service conditions of other government employees simply cannot be equated with those of the military , who retire at a much earlier age and undergo prolonged hardship tenures. The majority of soldiers, for instance, retire at 34-35 years of age.

The OROP announcement will come as a big relief for ex-servicemen, who have been agitating for it for several years now, with many even forgoing their medals to voice their outcry .

'One rank, one pension' plan may be unveiled today during PM Narendra Modi's rally in Mathura - The Economic Times

One-rank, one-pension may be announced today - The Times of India

 

[Suman]

"Rahul Gandhi and former defence minister A K Antony had both attacked the Centre for "criminal inaction" in delaying its rollout which the UPA regime had announced on February 2014" during 10 years rule they couldn't do it and they tried to implement in at the end of the 10 year tenure just for political reason, I wish Sonia Gandhi and her clad deserve a death penalty.