ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP) - A DEMAND PENDING FOR NEARLY THREE DECADES - Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi

To,
Shri Bhagat Singh Koshiyari, Member Rajya Sabha.
(Through Shri Rakesh Naithani,
Jt Director Rajya Sabha Secretariat)
Parliament House Annexe,
New Delhi 110001.
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MEMORANDUM RELATING TO ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP) - A DEMAND PENDING FOR NEARLY THREE DECADES

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Dear Sir,


Reference your advertisement relating to submission of memorandum’s relating to the case of the military’s long-pending demand of One Rank One Pension (OROP), which had appeared in newspapers.
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I am submitting herewith the said memorandum compiled by me for the consideration of the honourable Petitions Committee of the Rajya Sabha, for your consideration.
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Thanking you.
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Yours Sincerely


Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi
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OROP is a legitimate demand of all military personnel, which has been denied to them for nearly three decades by the government. The reason is not that our political leaders lack empathy but they have been wrongly advised by the bureaucracy, which wants to be one up on the military at all times. The bureaucrats, knowing that they can never match up to the military, lose no chance of putting down the military, whether it is their status or emoluments or even a say in policy formulations.

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This memorandum, however, is not a tirade against the bureaucracy but is meant to enlighten the Honourable Chairman and respected members of the Petitions Committee of the Rajya Sabha regarding various facets of the long-pending demand of the military for OROP. I am intentionally using the term military and not veterans, as it needs to be appreciated that the veterans of today were in active service yesterday, just as those in active service today are the veterans of tomorrow. The only difference between them is that while the veterans can articulate their views in public, those in active service can not do so, on account of the rules currently in force. Unfortunately, the government has not understood this reality. It seems to be under the erroneous impression that everything will be fine if the aspirations of those on active military duty are met, while the veterans can be ignored.. Such thinking is likely to have tremendous long term adverse effects on the security of the nation, as well as on the democratic values we cherish so dearly.

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It is important to clearly understand the meaning of OROP, lest it gets overshadowed by peripheral and patently wrong reasons that tend to obfuscate, rather than clarify issues. Simply stated, OROP means that the pension of all veterans of equal rank and equal service must be the same, irrespective of when they had superannuated and become veterans.

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The demand for OROP is essentially based on compensation for compulsorily retiring military personnel at much younger ages, so that the youthful profile of all active duty military personnel remains intact. The military fights the nations battles and for doing so, it is essential that it always has a young profile. The result is that military personnel retire much before the ages laid down for the retirement of all government employees, which currently stands at 60 years.

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Thus, starting from the lowest ranks, our Other Ranks, who comprise Sepoys and non commissioned officers (NCO’s), are compulsorily sent home when their age is in the region of 35 years. Their counterparts in the civil services, the police and other related services retire only at 60 years of age. There is no compensation for the veterans for the differential of an average of 25 years, even though the cumulative effect works out to about Rupees 45 lacs upto the age of 60 years and nearly 60 lacs upto the current longevity index of 75 years of age. At the next rung are the junior commissioned officers (JCO’s). They are sent home around 45 years of age. They get no compensation for the approximately 15 years of differential from their civilian (including police) counterparts.

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Thereafter is the level of commissioned officers, whose retirement is related to the ranks they hold. Thus, officers up to the rank of colonel retire at 54 years, brigadiers at 56 years and major generals at 58 years of age. The next higher rank is of lieutenant generals, comprising two categories – those who retire before becoming army commanders or vice chiefs and those (a much smaller number), who get promoted. Their age of retirement is 60 years. Above this, there are only the three chiefs, who hold the next rank of General and equivalent. They retire at the age of 62 years. The only bureaucrat in this category is the cabinet secretary.

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In summation, our jawans and NCO’s lose 50 % of their emoluments – nearly 25 years before their civilian counterparts; our JCO’s nearly 15 years and the bulk of our officers between six to two years. There is no compensation for this loss to the veterans, which is obviously patently unfair. In addition, when the military personnel proceed on retirement, their family obligations like educating and marrying their children stare them in the face. No wonder our veterans, especially the sepoys and equivalent die at much younger ages, when compared to the national longevity average!

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The above was not the case prior to and at the time of our Independence in 1947. Till 1950, all military personnel received a ‘military pension’, which was equivalent to their last pay drawn. The rationale was obvious – the government understood the peculiar and incomparable nature of military service as also the sacrifices a soldier made for the nation. The civil government employees, on the other hand, received 33 % of their last pay as their pension, on the analogy that they had served their full years of engagement. Thereafter, in the early Sixties, pension of military personnel was arbitrarily reduced to 70 %. There were major rumblings of discontent amongst the veterans, but being completely apolitical and fiercely patriotic, they listened to the then hierarchy of the military, who explained that it was in the interest of the nation.

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The first nail in the pension coffin of the military was driven in by the Third Pay Commission, wherein the military too was brought under the ambit of the pay commissions. It was done on the specious plea that there was need to establish some sort of parity amongst the different segments of government employees, completely forgetting that there is nothing in common between military service and service in other departments of the government. This was the first time that the political leadership had succumbed to the blandishments of their bureaucratic advisors. Thereafter, the bureaucrats continued to go deeper in to their game of one-upmanship, till a nadir was reached in the Sixth Pay Commission, when the bureaucrats went berserk. It was only the hard stand taken by the services headquarters and the intervention of the Prime Minister that some improvements were affected, but only for the military personnel in active service.

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All veterans, including the war disabled; other disabled personnel; widows; and family pensioners were left to fend for themselves. This resulted in a spate of court cases where relief was given but the government has unfortunately ignored even the directives of the apex courts. The aftermath of the Sixth Pay Commission would also be remembered by the desperate actions of the veterans, who for the first time in the nation’s history raised their voices in the public domain, as justice and equity had been sacrificed by the government at the behest of the bureaucrats. It is to the credit of the veterans that despite getting their backs to the wall, their protests have been peaceful and the dignity of the military has not been sacrificed.

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The important footnote to the saga of the emoluments and pension of the military personnel is that despite pleas before every pay commission that the military should be kept out of the purview of pay commissions, the government did not agree. Even the plea that military representatives should be incorporated in the pay commissions was summarily dismissed. What a dismal way of treating soldiers who make the country safe and secure!

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A word about the military’s persistent demand for justice and equity, spanning nearly three decades, is now in order. Every political party, during discussions in Parliament, in their election manifestos and in the recommendations of the Standing Committees on Defence have endorsed and accepted the demands. Yet, when it comes to implementation, the political leaders of all parties seem to get cold feet, perhaps because of the (wrong) reasons advanced by the bureaucrats. What a sad state of affairs in a democracy where the elected representatives of the people cannot even implement decisions where there is an all-party consensus!

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In the end, it needs to be clarified that the military is not asking for the moon; they just want to be compensated for the long years of wage-denial, because of forced early retirement of the nation. Granting OROP would be commensurate with all the values our democracy cherishes – justice, equity and compensation for the soldiers who give the best years of their life, fight the battles of the nation without caring for their health and ever-ready to sacrifice themselves so that the security and soverignity of the nation is never compromised.

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(Lt Gen Vijay Oberoi)

Former Vice Chief of Army Staff