By S.G.Vombatkere
Armed Forces (army, navy,
airforce) Veterans are chary of going public on defence matters particularly on
issues of their own rights and entitlements. This is because of years of
service in a strict disciplinary environment under the Army, Navy and Air Force
Acts of Parliament, which expressly deny them the fundamental rights of freedom
of speech & expression. Thus there was a time when Veterans believed in
staying out of the news. But times have changed. Politicians and bureaucrats
have tested the Veterans' patience.
Short history
The demand for
One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP) dates back to the 1980s. Nothing much happened
until the Congress promised OROP in its poll manifesto in 2004, but the UPA
government rejected the OROP demand in December 2008, resulting in Veterans
returning over 22,000 gallantry, war and service medals to the President of
India along with symbolically signing a letter with their own blood in 2009.
Under the Indian Ex-Servicemen's Movement (IESM) banner, Veterans have been
taking delegations to the Ministry of Defence, writing letters to the Prime
Minister and Defence Minister, and holding peaceful and dignified rallies and
public demonstrations.
With continuing pressure
from MP Shri Rajeev Chandrashekhar and IESM, the the Parliament Standing
Committee on Defence studied and accepted the concept and definition of OROP in
2013. OROP was featured in the UPA government's budget in February 2014 and was
reflected in an executive order to that effect in the same month. After the
BJP-NDA government came to power, granting OROP was mentioned in the budget
speech in July 2014, and the MoS for Defence confirmed it in the Rajya Sabha in
December 2014.
During the campaign for the
2014 general elections, BJP PM candidate, Shri Narendra Modi, made a promise at
a Veterans' Rally in Rewari, Haryana that, if elected to office, he would
ensure OROP. In March 2015, during PM Modi's much-hyped visit to the troops on
Siachen glacier, he volunteered the statement that the OROP demand would be
fulfilled. However, even after two successive governments have agreed to OROP,
and the PM's promises on its implementation, Veterans see OROP as a distant and
receding light at the end of a tunnel.
What is the fuss about OROP?
But first, what is OROP?
OROP simply means “uniform pension for military 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 past pensioners”.
The reason for demanding
OROP is that Veterans who have retired earlier receive much less pension than
those who retired more recently. It can be argued that this also happens in
other government jobs, so why are Veterans making such a fuss? To answer this
perfectly valid question one needs to know some little-known facts concerning
the military, at least insofar as service, retirement and pension are
concerned.
One, Armed Forces (AF)
personnel are compulsorily retired at a very early age, and retirement age
depends upon their rank. Early retirement is necessary to “keep the army young”
because older men cannot fight battles which make huge demands on stamina and
strength. Soldiers (Sepoys, or in general, Jawans) who have not been promoted
to NCO or JCO rank retire compulsorily after just 15 to 17 years of service,
when their age is 35 to 37 years. Sepoys who are promoted as NCOs or JCOs
retire at age 45 to 47 years. Officers compulsory retirement age is connected
with rank as follows – Major-50, Lt Col-52, Col-54, Brig-56, Maj Gen-58, Lt
Gen-60, General-62, noting that promotions depend both on performance and
severely limited vacancies due to the rigid pyramidal rank structure. That is
why, of all AF retirees, soldiers constitute about 90%.
Two, a soldier who was
retired, say, in 1986 would receive pension on the basis of his salary
according to the Fourth Pay Commission, while the pension of a soldier who was
retired after the Sixth Pay Commission (20 years later) would be considerably
higher because successive Pay Commissions fix salaries according to the rising
cost indices. Thus, a Havildar (NCO) who retired earlier with over 20 years of
service may receive less pension than a soldier who retired later with only 15
years of service. As an example for the officer cadre, the pension of a
post-2012 retiree Colonel was Rs.35,841, whereas a pre-2006 retiree Major
General’s pension was Rs.26,700. These disparities are grossly unfair because
the soldier is retired compulsorily at an age depending upon his rank, and his
pension is fixed upon the pay according to the CPC in force at retirement.
Three, compulsory
retirement after just 15-17 years of service at age 35 years means that the
soldier is effectively denied salary earnings of 25 years which other
government employees (including the police forces) receive because they retire
at age 60 years. There is negligible scope for lateral entry into government
service even for soldiers who retire without disability attributable to
military service. He is forced to seek employment to supplement his meagre
pension at a time when his family and other commitments are just beginning to
increase. This, along with lower pension of earlier retirees is a combination
which makes for near-destitution of a soldier who served in hard conditions to
defend the nation. For comparison, a CRPF policeman retires at 57 years age,
and CRPF authorities are pressing for the retirement age to be increased to 60
years.
Four, there are huge
differences in the military officer cadre vis-a-vis IAS and IPS. Consider the
rank of Maj Gen, to which only 0.8% of officers get promoted because of the
command-control-discipline rank structure of the army, after about 30 years of
service. But the equivalent rank (in terms of salary) in the IAS is Joint
Secretary (JS), which 100% of IAS cadre attain after only about 18 years of
service, and about 80% of IPS cadre after about 20 years. It is this unfairness
in parity in addition to early retirement age which is at the root of the OROP
demand. Further, and even more unfairly, the Jawan is equated with a Class D
government employee.
Public cost
There has been much
discussion regarding what OROP would cost the exchequer. Many opined it was
unaffordable, and further that other government servants would also demand OROP
if granted to Veterans. However Veterans maintain that OROP cannot be withheld
from them because some others, whose conditions of service and promotions are
entirely different, also demand OROP.
MoD sent the final proposal
to implement OROP for Rs.8,300 crores to Ministry of Finance on 17 February
2015. Adding Rs.8,300 crores to Rs.43,000 crores of Defence pensions, the total
is Rs.51,300 crores per annum. Veterans argue that when the BJP-NDA budget
allowed Rs.5.72 lakh crores as “revenue foregone” to provide concessions on
corporate tax, commercial tax & customs duties to business houses for just
one year, hesitating at spending less than one-tenth of it on Veterans who have
given the best years of their lives for the nation's defence was a deliberate
slight.
Deliberate neglect of Veterans
There was no member in 6CPC
and earlier CPCs to represent soldiers, who form not merely the single largest
segment affected by the decisions of 6CPC, but also form the only segment that
is denied fundamental freedoms under Articles 19(a) and 19(c), and have
conditions of service, promotion and retirement that are adverse when compared
with other categories under consideration of the 6CPC.
The Department of Ex-servicemen
Welfare (DESW) was set up in 2004 within MoD, to formulate policies and
programmes for the welfare and resettlement of Veterans. However, without a
single serving soldier or Veteran in its setup, it has actually been working at
cross purposes with Veterans' welfare. Factually and outrageously, as a matter
of policy DESW contested all cases won by individual Veterans in courts of law,
including one case concerning a paltry Rs.702 per month won by a disabled
soldier after litigating in a High Court.
Last word
A large section of the
public including legislators, are ignorant of soldiers' working conditions –
early retirement, non-family stations and long separations, continual
life-threatening stressful situations, risks on-the-ground and in-the-field, high
casualty rate, strict disciplinary regime under military law, denial of
fundamental rights, etc. The tragedy is that they are not even interested in
knowing, let alone understanding.
After promises have
remained unimplemented, very recently PM Modi made a statement that OROP was
not clearly defined. This raised doubts among Veterans regarding which vested
interest has sown this “doubt” in the PM's mind, though most believe that these
are IAS-sourced machinations. This belief is supported in large measure by the
composition and conduct of successive CPCs and the attitude and manner of
functioning of the Department of Ex-Servicemen's Welfare (DESW) under MoD,
outlined earlier.
Veterans hold Mr. Modi
accountable to promises made as PM-candidate and later as PM. Sensing the
growing disappointment and anger among Veterans, the PM is reported to have
tweeted that Veterans have waited 40 years and should not mind waiting a little
more to solve the OROP muddle. IESM has demanded that government commit a
definite date by which OROP would be implemented, failing which a peaceful,
dignified Maha-Rally would be held on Sunday 14 June 2015 at Jantar Mantar, New
Delhi, with simultaneous rallies in some state capitals and other cities with a
large Veterans' presence. This is to be followed by an indefinite relay fast
starting 15 June.
Government's continued
neglect of veterans is actually a double whammy on the country. On the one
hand, valuable trained manpower is being lost, and on the other hand
impecunious soldiers are joining the ranks of the unemployed or under-employed
and exacerbating the current high levels of country-wide discontent.
It does not take a rocket
scientist to understand that OROP is a matter of simple justice. Some Veterans
say that governments playing with their patience at the behest of vested
interests that delay or deny OROP, are figuratively playing with a bomb with a
slow-burning fuse. Only time will tell whether the Maha-Rally will result in
grant of OROP, or whether the vested interests succeed in destroying the bond
between the soldier-veteran on the one hand and the government on the other.
Major General S.G. Vombatkere, VSM, retired in 1996 as Additional DG Discipline
& Vigilance in Army HQ AG's Branch. He holds a PhD degree in Structural Dynamics
from I.I.T, Madras. He is Adjunct Associate Professor of the University of
Iowa, USA, in international studies. With over 400 published papers in national
and international journals and seminars, his current area of interest is
strategic and development-related issues. E-mail: sg9kere@live.com');"
target=>sg9kere@live.com
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