With the vexed One-Rank, One-Pension (OROP) issue yet to be resolved, ex-servicemen protesting for the last 83 days for its early implementation cautioned the Government on Friday against unilaterally announcing any decision without accommodating their terms and conditions, and threatened to intensify their stir.
The issue also figured during the three-day RSS-BJP leadership meeting here that ended on Friday. BJP president Amit Shah reportedly briefed Sangh Parivar functionaries that the OROP will be implemented soon. This assurance came after the RSS urged the Government to fulfil the long-standing demand of veterans by finding an early resolution regarding OROP.
Briefing mediapersons after the RSS-BJP coordination meeting, joint general secretary of RSS Dattatreya Hosabale said Shah, who attended the meeting, assured that the OROP issue would be solved soon.
Reacting to reports that the Government had prepared a draft proposal which envisaged commencement of the scheme from July 2014, pension revision every five years, and keeping 2013 as base year for calculating pension, ex-servicemen said they will step up their protest if the Government implements it unilaterally.
The draft also said six lakh widows will get pension arrears in one go while 23 lakh retired soldiers will get the arrears in four installments.
Clarifying the protesters’ position, Chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement Major-General Satbir Singh (Retired), said there were reports that the Government may soon unilaterally declare the implementation of OROP. “If it is as per our terms and conditions then we will welcome it and thank the Government. If not, then the unilateral declaration is unacceptable to us. We will intensify our protests.”
Ex-servicemen are demanding a review every year, but the Government has rejected it. Singh said they were willing to settle for biennial revision. “But not beyond that,” he said.
Demanding that OROP be implemented from March 31, 2014, Singh said the reported date of July 2014 was not acceptable to them. Trying to dispel the notion that the OROP will be a burden on the exchequer, he also said the Government has to only spend Rs 30 crore for six-consecutive years for “equalisation of pension.”
Colonel Anil Kaul (Retired), media adviser to the United Front of Ex-Servicemen, said the cost of implementing the OROP will come to around Rs 8,294 crore. The figure, he said, was worked out by pay cells of the three Services and figures estimated by the Ministry of Defence. At present, the annual pension budget of soldiers is more than Rs 50,000 crore, and nearly 50,000 personnel retire from the three Services every year.