All is well that ends well, so goes the adage. The issue of “One Rank one Pension,” in short,OROP to a large extent has ended on a happy
note though it has come after 85 days of dharna, relay hunger strike and fasts
unto death by some of the veterans of all ranks. There are glitches which still
remain but hopefully they too would be sorted out.
The issue of OROP was first raised in 1973 when the pension of
defence personnel was reduced to 50% by the then Pay Commission. It was a big
set back to the defence forces who after giving a crushing defeat to Pakistan
in the year 1971 which resulted in the creation of a new nation Bangladesh felt
financially cheated by the then Government. Thereafter, many Governments came
and went but the issue remained unresolved though many a false assurances and
promises were given and finally all that happened was the formation of a
Commission under the Chairmanship of Mr.Kosyari alongwith ten Members of
Parliament from different parties.
The recommendations made by this Committee was for giving OROP to
the armed forces and it was accepted in principle by the then Government and
was approved by both Houses of the Parliament but they remained in
pipeline only. The issue again came into prominence during the BJP’s election
campaign in the year 2013. The Prime ministerial candidate of the BJP during
election speeches held out a promise to the ex-servicemen that in case he was
voted to power the OROP will be implemented within 100 days of his forming the
Government.
It is heartening to note that after some flip flop the
Hon’ble Prime Minister through the untiring efforts of his Defence
Minister has delivered on his promise. No doubt it has not happened
within the stated 100 days but perhaps it was the complexity of the issue that
led to the delay. It is unfortunate that now when the Prime Minister has
fulfilled the promise it is being said in some quarters that he has made the
announcement keeping in view the Bihar Elections. Those who are saying so are
being uncharitable to the Prime Minister. The task was quite gigantic
that it was not possible to resolve the same within 100 days and that is why it
took the time that it took. Both the Prime Minister and the Defence Minister
deserve kudos.
While the Government, more particularly, the Prime Minister on
whose leadership the nation is pinning many hopes deserve to be complimented,
there is a disturbing feature and it relates to the role of the
bureaucracy and the serving Chiefs of the defence forces. When the
announcement was made by the Defence Minister it came with a rider that the
benefits of OROP will not be applicable to those defence personnel who had
opted for VRS. It came as a big surprise to the ex-servicemen fraternity. What
was even more surprising to them was that the three service
Chiefs who were present at the press briefing with the
Defence Minister knew that there is no such concept in the armed forces as VRS.
The question arises why did the service Chiefs not bring this fact to the
notice of Defence Minister or is it that they deliberately chose to
remain silent? And what about the Defence Secretary?
Does he also not know that there is nothing known as VRS in the Armed forces.
Why was this faux-pas allowed to happen. It is a poor reflection on the Defence
Ministry of which the bureaucratic head is the Defence Secretary. And as for the Service Chiefs they needed no briefing. They
ought to have known about it like the back of their hand. Had our Service
Chiefs and the Defence Secretary pointed out this fact at the right moment an
urgent meeting by Major General Satbir Singh the leader of the ex-servicemen
with the Defence Minister would have been avoided and it would not have
required no less a person than the Hon’ble Prime Minister to clarify that the
OROP would be applicable to all pensioners pre-mature retiree or otherwise.
When the Prime Minister Modi took over the reins of power it was
widely believed that the old order will change and will give way to new
dispensation. Unfortunately, this perception has so far not changed. The
general feeling, more particularly, amongst the Armed forces is that the
bureaucrats sitting in their plush offices put spokes in the advancement
of their career prospects without having a complete and comprehensive idea of
the onerous and difficult situations in which they are serving the nation. Most
army-men even go to the extent of saying that these Masters who have the final
say on what they should get and what they should not get be asked to spend just
one day at Siachen Glacier /Super high altitudes and if they come back in one
piece they would give up their fight. In view of such acrimonious feeling which
some army-men harbour against the bureaucrats it will be in the fitness of things that whenever a decision is to
be taken in the matters concerning the forces representatives of the
forces must necessarily be involved.
Without going into the knitty gritty of how the OROP has to be
rolled out to the ex-servicemen, one is left wondering why the Government is
insisting on having one man Judicial Commission to look into this aspect.
Should a welfare Government stand on ego? After all, a five Member Commission as is being proposed by the
veterans will not per-se grant them what they are asking for. The purpose of
the Commission is to avoid confusion like VRS etc. which can best be explained
by those who know the intricacies of the problem. Moreover, the veterans
who want to be Members of the commission are not asking for any monetary or other
benefits for working as Members of the Commission which are generally given to
the members of other Commissions that are set up by the Government. In any case whether it is a one man Commission or five
Members Commission, the final decision will always rest with the Government. So
what is all the fuss about? The veterans are offering free service which the Government should
welcome rather than spurn.
And lastly a word for Mr.Arun Jaitely our Hon’ble Finance Minister.
There is also a feeling amongst ex-serviceman that the matter got delayed not
at the level of the Defence Minister but at the level of the Finance Minister.
It will be better if Mr.Jaitley who otherwise enjoys an unsullied image clears
the air that he was not a stumbling block in the implementation of OROP.
Finally those who spear headed the movement led by Major General
Satbir Singh (Retd.) and his team deserve full credit and a salute from
the entire armed forces.
The writer of this article is a former Judge of Delhi High court.
It the present Govt want to take the full credit, then it should sort out the 7 points to the satisfaction of the exsms. Else the Govt will get the credit partially
ReplyDeleteI think there would not have been so much of hear burn had the government included the stake holders, for their suggestion. whether govt accept it or not is a different matter. They should have been told the actual financial liability and how they arrived at those figures instead of some low level office clerk who is totally clueless cooking up numbers and misleading decision makers
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