Yielding to the longstanding demand of ex-servicemen, finance minister P Chidambaram on Monday accepted the ?one rank, one pension? (OROP) scheme for the defence forces and made allocation of Rs 500 crore for the same, to be transferred within this fiscal to the defence pension account. Chidambaram said in his interim Budget speech that this decision will be implemented prospectively from the next fiscal (2014-15).
This initiative is expected to benefit around 3 million defence pensioners.
According to experts, the ?one rank, one pay? scheme will ensure that retired soldiers of the same rank and the same length of service receive the same pension, irrespective of their date of retirement. ?The scheme is estimated to cost R2,000 crore annually,? said a defence expert.
Currently, all pre-2006 (the year the 6th pay panel report came into effect) pensioners receive lesser than not only their counterparts but also their juniors. For instance, a major general who retired in 1995 draws a basic pension of R30,350 but an officer retiring in the same rank after 2006 gets R38,500. Similarly, a colonel who retired in 2003 gets R26,150 compared with R34,000 drawn by a colonel who retired this year.
Speaking to FE, Wg Cdr CK Sharma (retd) of Indian ex-servicemen movement, said, ?The MoD and the government have earlier, in three other situations, claimed that what they were sanctioning was OROP ? it actually never was.?
?During the tenure of the UPA governments, changes in the pension rules applicable to the defence services were notified on three occasions in 2006, 2010 and 2013. As a result, the gap between pre-2006 retirees and post-2006 retirees has been closed in four ranks ? havildar, naib subedar, subedar and subedar major. There is still a small gap in the ranks of sepoy and naik and a gap in the ranks of major and above,? the finance minister said in his speech.
The anomaly was created by the Fifth and Sixth Pay Commissions. Following protests, a panel was set up under cabinet secretary KM Chandrasekhar to review the OROP issues.
