DC Debate: The acceptability of One Rank One Pension

The issue of One Rank One Pension (OROP) has been hanging fire since 40 years. So, expecting the new government to clear it within a year may not be pragmatic.  We are ready to give them some more time but that does not mean five more years.  

 

We truly understand the problems and appreciate the efforts of the government. We also understand that if the government clears One Rank One Pension, many other organisations will come up with the same demand and they may also claim One Rank One Pension. 

 

So, the Central government requires time to ensure that other organisations do not claim OROP like the military and more time must be given to it. Ex-servicemen have been pressing for uniform pension for defence personnel who retire in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement. 

 

Nearly 22 lakh ex-servicemen and over six lakh war widows stand to gain immediately from this. Currently, the pension for ex-servicemen is based on pay commission recommendations of the time they retired.

 

It is the fault of ex-servicemen (veterans) that they are just requesting OROP (One Rank One Pension) without raising the issue of reducing their pension from three fourths of last pay to just half in 1973. 

 

Is there any precedence in world militaries of the pension of a soldier getting reduced from three fourths of pay to just half?

 

The main dispute between the veterans and the government is over which year’s scales should be taken as base for One Rank One Pension. 

 

The government wants to take the 2011 rates while the veterans want those of 2014. The veterans want it because the then government had already promised to pay OROP with effect from April 1, 2014. Why a U-turn now?

 

Both sides also disagree over the cut off date for implementation of One Rank One Pension which would decide the number of personnel coming under its purview.

 

Once the above issues are resolved, veterans have three more apprehensions regarding OROP. The One Rank One Pension  issue should not be linked to the Seventh Pay Commission.  Whenever the issue of OROP was taken up, it secured strong support, but was rejected by bureaucrats. This time the pattern is no different. The government’s plan may be to delay it till the Seventh Central Pay Commission (CPC) is ready to take over as they have not been able to reach a conclusion despite much effort. 

 

How perfect a reason for you to give consent.  It will be handed over to the Central Pay Commission for final burial of the idea, making it easier for the government to say sorry. (Col Tejandra Pal Tyagi, Vir Chakra awardee and Rashtriya Sainik Sanstha President)

 

 

 

For example, a soldier who retired after January 1, 2006 gets 42 per cent higher basic pension (Rs 7,045) compared to a soldier who retired earlier than this date (Rs 4,971). Even a havildar, who is two rungs up and who retired before January 1, 2006, gets 24 per cent lower pension (Rs 5,689) than a soldier who retired after that date. The situation among officers is even worse. The difference between the basic pension of a Lt. Colonel who retired after January 1, 2006 (Rs 28,695) and that of a Major General who retired before that date (Rs 26,700) is 7.5 per cent to the advantage of the former. Say a Major General stands three rungs above a Lt. Colonel in the military hierarchy, the anomaly becomes stark. And these differences are only in basic pension. When taken into account, the ever increasing Dearness Allowance (51 per cent as on date), this disparity will rise by a multiple of 1.51. In addition, these were the differences that existed on 1.1.2006. Since then, as per provisions of the 6th PC, the pensions are rising 3 per cent annually and the gap today would be much bigger than what is illustrated here. 

 

Rank is the base of functioning in defence forces. Veterans are the only category that are constitutionally permitted to use their rank with their names throughout their lives. Such a distortion in pension structure therefore creates a situation that is highly disturbing.  OROP is an over three decades old demand and evokes strong emotions among the over two million veterans and service widows. 

 

Having failed in persuading the government through letters and meetings, the veterans have been left with no choice but to resort to rallies, fasts, returning medals and submission of memorandum to the President. These methods are unprecedented and do not augur well for the country.  The protests  have serious consequences on the security of the country as an umbilical relationship exists between the retired and the serving. The urgency for resolving the issue can hardly be over-emphasised. 

 

Pension is remuneration for services rendered by an individual in the past.  Logically, if that service has been ‘equal,’ the pension too must be equal. In the military, the ‘equality’ of service has two connotations — the length of physical service in uniform and the rank at the time of retirement. It follows that two veterans retiring from the same rank after completing the same length of service should get the same pension irrespective of their date of retirement. (Brig J.S. Ahuja (Retired), Member of Indian Cartographic Association)