The OROP announcement of 5th September 15 is a hoax to misguide Indian population and betray the Veterans

The BJP in its election manifesto assured the nation that on being voted to power it would ensure implementation of the long standing demand of veterans on OROP.

Comments by an aggrieved Veteran 

The OROP which they had offered in a much fan fared announcement on 5th Sep 2015, at the end of nearly 15 months in office, was by no means any where near the OROP defined and approved by the Parliament of India. The job which could very well have been accomplished within a month or two in this IT savvy era, has been done in a period of nearly fifteen months, and that too in a most slipshod and incompetent a manner, to cheat and betray the Veterans in every respect. It obviously appears to be an unholy nexus between the bureaucracy and the concerned ruling party ministers who have been made to look ignorant of their own assignments, and have become a party to subverting the true definition of OROP at the behest of some culprits, to the disadvantage of the very hopeful Veterans. It would be really worth while for Indian public to know as to the manner in which a ruling Indian Government, inclusive of its bureaucracy, operates, to bluff and let down its own Veterans who have sacrificed the best part of their life in the service of this Nation. This certainly is no way to repay the debt of country's brave soldiers, who have been compelled to take to the streets to have the promises made by past Governments in the last over four decades, fulfilled to the full satisfaction of the Veterans of all ranks. 

OROP as per the Koshiyary Committee Report, as also announced in the full house of Parliament by a Minister of State for Defence, implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces 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 to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.

On the 5th Sep 2015, The Hon'ble RM announced the acceptance by the Govt of India of the demand of OROP. However, there are 7 REASONS WHY VETERANS ARE UNHAPPY AT THE PRESENT FORMAT OF OROP as announced by the RM. These are: -

1. Base year for implementation of OROP agreed to as FY 2013-14, Changed to Calendar year 2013. This will completely ruin definition of OROP by creating a divide between pensioners past & present destroying the soul of OROP. This is not acceptable.*

2. Date of Implementation agreed to was 01 Apr 2014, which has been pushed forward to 01 Jul 2014. This will benefit the Govt by 2100 crores and cause loss to ESM by same amount. Hardly worth depriving soldiers and widows of the same. 

This is not acceptable.*

3. Rationalization of pensions being Insisted on as once in five years instead of annually this will destroy the OROP definition completely .This will be ONE RANK FIVE PENSIONS INSTEAD OF OROP. This is not acceptable.*

4. Substitution of a One man Judicial commission instead of the five member suggested.

#(THESE WERE THE ONLY FOUR POINTS DISCUSSED BETWEEN GOVT REPRESENTATIVES & VETERANS TILL AS LATE AS 1130 h 05 SEP 2014, THE  DAY OF THE ANNOUNCEMENT)

5. The most surprising exclusion of those who opt for VRS ie Pre Mature Retirement from benefits accruing from OROP. There is nothing called VRS in Armed Forces. This term is for civil servants and for public sector units. These employees are asked to go home by paying them large amounts to the tune of lacs of Rs as Golden Hand Shake. This facility does not exist in Armed Forces, here all soldiers apply for Premature Release after completing minimum qualifying length of service and earn their pension. How can a soldier, who has earned his pension after completing Govt laid down rules, be denied his deferred wages in the form of OROP. This is against the law of the land. We are surprised as to how a Govt would wish to deprive its brave soldiers, of their basic rights of pension. If forced, we shall exercise the legal option in the Hon’ble SC assisted by Mr. Ram Jethmalani.

6. The Fixation of pension be done as a mean/average of the pay band instead of the top level. This is an unheard of provision and will kill the OROP definition in totality. The implication of a junior drawing higher pension than his senior defeats the very basics of service ethos. This is not acceptable.*

7. The suggestion of Handing over working out of modalities to 7 CPC. Objected to because: -#

(a) Once adopted by Parliament (Two successive ones in this case), No CPC or any other such commission has authority to adjudicate.

(b) Once granted OROP is in perpetuity.

(POINTS AT 5, 6 & 7 WERE NEVER DISCUSSED AT ANY LEVEL OR BY ANY OF THE GOVT REPRESENTATIVES TILL ANNOUNCED ON 05 SEP 2014 AT 2.30 PM)

The Government claims to have approved an expenditure of Rs 10000 crores for OROP and with the restrictions now being suggested, it will be spending only about 3000 to 4000 crores. People of India will decide who is being greedy, Armed Forces Personnel who are being cheated of Rs 6000 to 7000 crores or the Government which is spreading misinformation.

While the Government struggles with rolling out of OROP, the issue of Non Functional Upgrade (NFU), which was granted to civil servants and all 58 class A services in 2006 has obviously been kept away from public scrutiny. The same was deliberately denied to the Armed Forces in an attempt to further degrade them. The scheme envisages the pay and perks of higher appointment without even working for that appointment. The outlay on this scheme by the Govt has been Rs 21000 crores PA. This figure is likely to go up to around 30000 crores with courts permitting NFU to para military forces. WOULD IT NOT BE LOOTING THE POOR MAN OF INDIA TO SERVE THE ELITE CLASS OF A SERVICES.

Therefore if implemented in its present form, the announced OROP will not only violate the definition but cause heavy financial hardship to all ranks across the board. In fact, this will not be OROP in its true sense. It will also impediment the young profile of the Armed Forces that is necessarily an Operational requirement. The veterans are not asking for anything more than the originally approved OROP without any DILUTION.

Finally, in 2014, Veterans voted for parties/candidates who promised to approve OROP on coming to power. It is recommended that veterans reserve their right to vote for only those candidates who fulfil their promises. It is for information of all that veterans will not vote for those who have not fulfilled their promise and have remained only dream merchants.

MEDIA TEAM

UFESM

The Simple Truth about One Rank One Pension (OROP)

Do 125 crore Indians know

1.    That OROP really  “implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces 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 to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners”

2.   Who recommended it?  OROP is a concept and acronym created by Congress appointed K P Singh Deo Committee in 1983 post protest against reduction of pension of Defence personnel and increase in pay and pension of civil personnel as a gift for winning the 1971 war.

3.   Why OROP to Armed Forces only? Because they retire in the age bracket 35-37 years. Would you like an army of 60 yrs old on your border? The Govt does not absorb them laterally despite Pay Commission recommendations. OROP was very much there till 1973 as Armed Forces personnel received 70% pension. For no justifiable reason it was drastically reduced to 50%. 

4.   All countries across the world pay higher pay and pension to their Armed Forces.

5.   The Armed Forces retired personnel are struggling for the past 42 years for OROP with no outcome except hollow promises by the Governments in power.  

6.   Congress and BJP led Govts aided by a phalanx of bureaucrats deliberately fail to understand the reasons, the concept, the aim, and the implications – financial, administrative, and legal – of OROP?

7.   That if approving OROP was a desperate UPA’s electoral death throes, and then what was the BJP’s repeated “committed to OROP” about?  

8.   The basic pension of a retired sepoy is - Rs. 6,120/- p.m. and that of a widow of a soldier Rs. 3,672/- p.m.  Even with DA added, this is Rs 260 per day which is about the same as the daily wage for unskilled, unemployed labourers in some States.

9.   OROP costs Rs 8,293/- crore which the PM feels that he has to give at the cost of the poor. May we know at whose cost has the Govt given away Rs 1,23,000/- crore to Bihar, Rs 63,000 crore as tax exemptions to rich corporate in 2014-15, Rs 20, 000 crore to offset losses of Public Sector Banks (PSB) by their bad loans and Rs 40, 000 crore of the poor to Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) in 2015-16?

10. Defence Forces Pensioners, 30 lakh in number, are Income Tax Payers. All those in IT bracket honestly pay income tax, and many trolls think defence pension is income-tax exempt. ESM contributed part of the largess of the government as shown above.

11.  OROP Commitments and Implementation Issue was never serious matter for the Government. In fact there was only a token allocation in budget. The Budgets for 2014-2015 & 2015-16 make it clear that Ex-Servicemen (ESM) were led up the commitment path till ^5th September 2015 by repeated announcements. The Demand No. 22 of the budget clearly misses out OROP as part of Pensions and other benefits. So, the FM (also RM from 27^th May 2014 to 8^th Nov 2014) did not even plan for the OROP in Budget 2015-16 and hence the misery of depriving the poor to pay the tax paying ESM & widows pronouncement by PM is a hoax.

12.   If the RM states “Only 2.2 per cent additionally is needed for implementing OROP. I can recuperate that amount by saving wastage,” why then is FM the self-appointed house wife crying wolf over finances?

13.   The serving and veterans are linked by a chord and if the serving see the treatment to the veteran there is bound to be a dissatisfied serving soldier and that is a National security risk.

Do the 125 crore Indians still think that OROP is not deserved by Defence veterans, that we are greedy and are coming up with new demands every day?

ESM hope that the PM will tell the truth about OROP in his future speech(es) and uphold the national motto - Satyam mev Jayate.

Visit http://sharad10525.blogspot.in/ for more details.

The Govt has STILL NOT GIVEN OROP as per the definition. What is announced by the defence Minister on 05 Sep 15 is nowhere near OROP.