A day after holding a rally in New Delhi to protest against the delay in implementing the much-delayed ‘One-Rank One-Pension(OROP),’ the ex-servicemen began an indefinite relay hunger strike on Monday in at least 20 cities across the country, including the national Capital. They will also hold a rally in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections in September-October there to exert pressure on the Government.
Seeking their “promised dues,” retired soldiers began the relay hunger strike at Jantar Mantar here demanding that the Government announce a date for the introduction of the much-delayed OROP. If implemented, OROP will benefit more than 22 lakh retired soldiers and six lakh widows. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had assured them on Sunday that the demand will be met and urged the former soldiers to be “patient.”
A group of 55 ex-servicemen from Jalandhar and some other parts of north India sat on a hunger strike in New Delhi. Colonel Anil Kaul(retired), media adviser to Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM,)said this movement will continue indefinitely till “our dues are cleared.” The retired soldiers on Sunday had sought President Pranab Mukherjee’s intervention for speedy implementation of OROP.
Asked if the Government has ditched them, IESM Chairman Major General Satbir Singh (retired) said, the question is about honouring the assurances and so far those have been not implemented on the ground. “That’s why we feel the Government has not lived up to what they promised us,” he said. The agitation gathered momentum after ex-servicemen felt let down as they expected OROP to be announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on May 26 in Mathura where he addressed a rally to mark one year of NDA rule. The BJP had made it an issue during lok Sabha campaign last year and promised to implement OROP in its election manifesto.
In his ‘Mann Ki Baat’ radio talk, Modi had assured the retired soldiers’ fraternity that his Government would soon resolve the OROP issue, but that has not happened, protesters lamented here on Monday. Even though the Government has said it is committed to implementing OROP, there has been no official word on why the scheme is getting delayed, they said. The OROP is likely to cost Rs8,340 crore to the exchequer and Defence Ministry sources said the file is with the Finance Ministry for a final budgetary approval.
The OROP scheme envisages a uniform pension for the defence personnel who retire in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. Currently, the pension for retired personnel is based on the Pay Commission recommendations of the time when he or she retired. So, a Major General who retired in 1996 draws a lower pension than a lieutenant Colonel who retired after 1996.
The demand to remove this disparity was first raised more than 15 years back and the UPA Government in 2013 accepted OROP and earmarked Rs 500 crore for it. The NDA Government hiked the amount to Rs 1,000 crore in this fiscal but the scheme is yet to take off thereby leading to frustration amongst lakhs of ex-soldiers. Incidentally, more than 50,000 soldiers including jawans and officers retire every year. Meanwhile, calling for immediate implementation of OROP, Congress on Monday sought to question the Government’s intention in doing the needful. Referring to Modi’s announcement to implement the scheme, Congress spokesperson Pl Punia asked when it would be done.