Eminent Supreme Court lawyer Ram Jethmalani on Monday joined defence veterans protesting over delay in One Rank One Pension at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Ex-servicemen have been protesting for 78 days with 10 being on fast-unto-death and many on relay hunger strike.

The Former Bharatiya Janata Party leader has been at loggerheads with the Modi government for some time. He had been critical about the government's efforts in tackling black money.

Jethmalani was very critical of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley. "Finance Minister is your enemy and the enemy of the nation. They might go to court against me."

Jethmalani said, "I have come here to assure you all support and help you on your cause. I want to fight the evil forces that have entered into our political system. I've no other ambition left in life except to return love and affection. The politicians unfortunately have let down the entire nation."

One Rank One Pension scheme has been a long-standing demand of nearly 3 million ex-servicemen and war widows in the country. It seeks to ensure that a uniform pension is paid to defence personnel who retire at the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.

Till now, nine war veterans and a father of a martyr are on fast-unto-death. Colonel Pushpender Singh, Havaldar Major Singh, Havaldar Ashok Chauhan, Havaldar Sahib Singh, Major Piar Chand Rana, Naik Uday Singh, Commander AK Sharma, Vijay Singh Yadav, SWR Keshav Singh and Samwal Ram Yadav, father of martyr Sunil Kumar Yadav are on fast-unto-death.

source : http://www.ibnlive.com/

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Over the past two days, the Centre has offered to make at least two changes in its position on the proposed One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. It has showed willingness to change the base year of pension implementation and to allow pension equalisation every five years. The protesting ex-servicemen, however, have rejected both the offers.

The veterans were apprised of the offers by Army Chief General Dalbir Singh and Principal Secretary to PM Nripendra Mishra during meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday. However, they refused to budge from four demands—no dilution in the definition of OROP approved by Parliament, retrospective date of implementation from April 1, 2014, base year of 2013-14 for calculating pension and a raise every year to match the annual increments.

“We are demanding that 2013-14 be considered the base year for calculating pension. The government has asked us if 2012 could be considered the base year. Earlier, they said 2011 would be considered… Secondly, we are demanding that pension be equalised every year… The government had earlier proposed that the equalisation be done every 10 years as per Pay Commission recommendations…On Tuesday, they proposed the revision could be done every five years,” Group Captain V K Gandhi, general secretary of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement said

Source : Indian Express

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A senior BJP leader has urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "urgently intervene" on the One Rank One Pension (OROP) issue for the Indian ex- servicemen, as the condition of those sitting on fast-unto-death has deteriorated.

"I urge the Prime Minister to urgently intervene in the OROP issue before there are any casualties in the ongoing indefinite fast of ex-servicemen," said Subramanian Swamy, a senior BJP leader, who is currently on a visit in the US.

"In any case the Prime Minister has a responsibility to intervene because two ministers viz., of Defence, who wants our party's promise in 2014 to be kept, and of Finance, who is concerned with the financial burden and hence has held up the implementation," he said.

"Under the conduct of business rules for the government, when two ministers disagree, the matter has to go before the Cabinet.

"The Prime Minister can act on behalf the Cabinet and later ratify," Swamy said in a statement.

In New Delhi, the over 70-day-long agitation for 'One Rank One Pension' aggravated yesterday with one more veteran, who was on fast-unto-death, got hospitalised, even as two more joined the protests amid speculation that implementation of the scheme may be announced this week

Source : http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/subramanian-swamy-urges-pm-modi-to-intervene-on-one-rank-one-pension-issue/articleshow/48676012.cms

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R Jagannathan  Aug 24, 2015|  If there is a worse way to handle a sensitive issue like OROP - one-rank-one-pension for the defence forces - I am yet to hear about it. The BJP has messed up big time on an issue that is not only very close to its own heart, but one that is long overdue.

Morally, politically and economically, Narendra Modi is making a serious mistake by unconscionably delaying OROP. Most arguments used against OROP are misleading, if not plain wrong.

First, when the previous government had already made a commitment on OROP and the then prime ministerial candidate had promised a full commitment to it in his election campaign, there was no way the decision could have been avoided. The only question that needed to be decided was when the scheme would be implemented and how OROP entitlements will be calculated. Two months was the maximum required after May 2014 for OROP to come into force.

Second, OROP affects the BJP's strongest constituency - the armed forces. As a nationalistic party, the BJP has drawn a disproportionate share of activists and politicians from the ex-servicemen's constituency - and this constituency is huge. The defence forces have 1.3 million serving personnel, another 1.2 million reservists, and many millions of ex-servicemen. And we are not even talking of other paramilitary forces like the NSG, the Assam Rifles, the Special Frontier Force and armed central policing forces like the CRPF, which has over 230 battalions of its own. Add them all and the numbers will surely double at least to around six million.

If we assume an average household size of five people per serving or retired defence jawan or officer, we are talking of close to 25-30 million people who will gain from OROP now or in the future. Can the BJP mess around with the futures of such a large constituency?

Third, there is the economic argument. The finance ministry under Arun Jaitley would surely have argued that the fiscal deficit will go for a toss if OROP is implemented this year. But the cost of OROP is reckoned at anything between Rs 8,000-12,000 crore, depending on who you include and how you calculate the rate of pension. This amount would be less than one-tenth the food subsidy, where in fact 40 percent goes to the wrong people. It needs the government to only reduce food subsidy wastage by 10 percent to pay for OROP.

Even assuming the real payout will be twice as large, assuming we include all military and paramilitary personnel, including CRPF, we are talking Rs 25,000 crore. A big amount, no doubt, but not unaffordable to a government committed to cleaning up the wasteful subsidy system. Half the savings have already accrued from cleaning up the LPG subsidy system with the direct cash payments scheme.

An honest approach to the problem of fiscal deficit would have been a simple statement from the government that OROP will be implemented in two stages, with 50 percent of the target -ex-servicemen (the lowest-paid) being eligible from this year, and the other from next year. Alternatively, we could have covered all people upto 75 percent of OROP entitlements this year and 100 percent next year.

To have ex-servicemen on hunger-strike and a minister and former army chief's daughter backing their cause is a public relations disaster for the Prime Minister.

In any case, if the real issue is only the impact on central finances, there is also the counter-argument: when consumption demand in the economy is weak and business is not investing, a higher payment to ex-servicemen may be just the pep consumption demand needs.

It is an established fact that whenever public sector pay rises after the implementation of pay commission recommendations (the next pay commission's recommendations will have to be implemented from next year), consumer demand picks up and growth revives. In an economy that wants to raise its growth momentum and jobs, what can be better than an additional Rs 10,000-20,000 crore in the hands of consumers, thanks to OROP? And remember, higher demand leads to higher tax revenues from increased economic activity and hence lowers the fiscal deficit after a lag.

The economic argument against accepting OROP is thus weak. On the contrary, by sanctioning OROP our defence personnel will not only be defending our border better but also our economy.

The Prime Minister is probably getting bad advice from his finance ministry on OROP. He should over-rule them and announce OROP before Rahul Gandhi turns up at an ex-serviceman's home and offers fake sympathies.

Read at First Post Business

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Minister of state for external affairs and former army chief General (Retired) VK Singh's daughter joined the ongoing ex-servicemen's protest for implementation of the one rank one pension at Janta Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday. 

One Rank, One Pension (OROP), or same pension, for same rank and for the same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement was the basis for determining the pension and benefits of Indian Armed Forces till 1973. 

In 1973, the Congress Government headed by then prime minister Indira Gandhi, following the Third Central Pay Commission's recommendations,, in an "ex-parte" decision terminated OROP.

The termination of OROP has caused a lot disquiet in the armed forces and been a cause of public protests by armed forces veterans. 

The Koshyari Committee examined the issue of grant of OROP and submitted its report on December 19, 2011 and unanimously found merit in OROP and strongly recommended its implementation, 

"Government should implement OROP in the defence forces across the board at the earliest and further that for future, the pay, allowances, pension, family pension, etc in respect of the defence personnel should be determined by a separate commission so that their peculiar terms" are properly taken into account," it said. 

The Koshyari Committee had then blamed bureaucratic resistance and apathy for the failure to implement OROP. 

In the run up to the general election of 2014, OROP became a political issue. 

It was an integral part of the election manifesto of many political parties, including the Congress and the BJP. Leaders of both made repeated commitments to implement OROP if elected. 

On June 15 this year, angered by the government's delay, the ex-servicemen organizations launched nation-wide protests, including hunger strikes this month. 

On August 14, 2015, on the eve of India's 69th Independence Day, Delhi Police physically evicted the ex-servicemen, wives of servicemen, many in their eighties, from the Jantar Mantar protest site. 

The eviction was apparently done without proper supervision and resulted in the government being accused of high handedness by the public.

Source : TOI

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For the past several weeks, retired defence personnel have been protesting to get their long-standing demand for one rank, one pension implemented. Many expected Prime Minister Narendra Modi to announce it during his Independence Day address, but he stopped short of doing so. Former defence secretary Yogendra Narain speaks to Veenu Sandhu about the complications in implementing the system and the possible solution

What is the background of the dispute over one rank, one pension? And how justified is this demand?

The armed forces are very rank conscious, so their demand for one rank, one pension is quite justified given the environment they exist in during their service career. They want to keep that rank consciousness and I would fully endorse that demand. Before 1973, for the armed forces the pension was 70 per cent of the last pay drawn. And civilians got 30 per cent as pension of the last pay drawn. Then the new (third) pay commission thought it fit to bring them at par - that is, make it 50 per cent for both the civilians and the defence forces. That was the change that took place in 1973.

What is keeping political parties from implementing this system?

The opposition is not political as much as practical because two things happened over the passage of time as the defence forces repeated their demand. Paramilitary forces, like the Border Security Force, which is doing very similar duties on the border with Pakistan and Bangladesh, Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the Central Reserve Police Force, also raised this demand. The one rank, one pension demand spread to all other forces. In fact, recently the paramilitary forces made a combined representation asking to be treated on parity with the defence forces.

Two, this demand for one rank, one pension has gone through various stages. Today, there is no unanimity on what exactly the concept is. There is division about its understanding even among the defence forces. Some say that it should be one rank, one pension only for the soldiers, the jawans who enter the service at the age of 18 and retire at 35 because traditionally it is presumed that after that they are not fighting fit. Jawans get their pension as 50 per cent of the highest amount in the pay scale they are working in, whereas all others - civilians, paramilitary forces and officers of the defence forces - get 50 per cent of the initial starting of the revised pay scale or the pension they are already drawing, whichever is higher. And then, of course, they get their dearness allowance.

Then the third change came with the demand that the pension should be the same for retired personnel having the same rank and the same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement. This can be done but it will take a long time to calculate this for all the retired personnel who are still alive.

Somebody suggested a formula that instead of years of service, let's take the average of the years of service. For example, if a brigadier retired anytime between one and seven years of service, let's take the average of, say, three-and-a-half years.

That is what has been confusing the government. The political masters have taken the decision that one rank, one pension has to be implemented, but the difficulty is in deciding what the concept of this system is.

But isn't it true that an officer who retires today gets higher pension than the officer of the same rank who has retired some years earlier? 

Yes, there is this perception in the forces. A new pay commission comes in every 10 years. And then every officer of a particular rank gets 50 per cent of the starting of the revised pay scale. A serving officer of the same rank also keeps getting increments on his salary every year. So when he retires, he gets as pension 50 per cent of his last pay drawn. Those who are serving will always get higher because of the increments they have earned in the new pay scale. So in that sense, there is that gap. This gap gets levelled out only when the next pay commission sits.

Is the financial implication of implementing one rank, one pension also a concern?

There is no financial problem. The government can easily afford this. There is no such feeling that we can't pay Rs 8,400 crore or whatever amount it will take to implement this. That is not an issue at all. Finances are not an issue. This is a practical problem.

So what is the solution?

The actual demand, understanding, perception and conception of one rank, one pension should be clarified first. The simplest way would be to increase the pension from 50 per cent to 60 per cent and add uniformity to it. This mean, they would get 60 per cent of the starting of the revised pay scale. And that's all. So, they will get more than the civilians. It would also mean some restoration of what they were getting prior to 1973. That will be more practical and easy to implement. And let this also be done for the paramilitary forces.

Source : Business Standard

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