New OROP formula may be similar to MPs’ pension plan

NEW
DELHI: The government is working on a fresh option to resolve the
ongoing stand-off over ‘one-rank-one-pension’ demand of ex-servicemen,
sources said on Thursday.

According to a senior government
official, they are working on a proposal that would be similar to the
pension scheme for MPs. The scheme operates on a band concept, with
additional money for each additional year of service.-

The proposal is to create pension bands for each rank, and then provide additional money for each extra year of service. So all officers who retire in a particular rank will be in the same band of pension, with the total pension payment going up according to the number of years he has spent in that rank.

“We are working out the fine details,” one source said. Senior government officials are thrashing out the finer details, and it would be presented to the representatives of ex-servicemen and the military brass.

The latest move comes even as ex-servicemen are continuing with their protests against what they feel is a huge let down by the Narendra Modi government, which had come to power promising to implement the OROP scheme. 

Ex-servicemen, some of whom have begun to boycott government functions, are planning a major rally in New Delhi on June 14 to protest against the government failure to fulfil the promise.

They believe that there is only one definition to OROP, which is to grant the same pension to all people who have retired from the same rank after putting in same number of years, irrespective of when they retired.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has repeatedly tried to douse the anger among ex-servicemen over the continuing delay in implementing OROP, promising a solution to their issue. “You have been patient for 40 years. Give me some time to address it. This is a complex, vexed, issue … We will together find a solution,” PM said in his monthly “Mann Ki Baat” programme on All India Radio last Sunday. 

Expectations of ex-servicemen were raised by repeated assurance from defence minister Manohar Parrikar who said over the recent months that OROP was virtually a “done thing” since it had been cleared by his ministry.