IESM: Fast for Justice Rally- seventy sixth day

Date: Tuesday, 3 March, 2009, 8:34 PM
Dear Colleagues,
Our brave veterans from Sonipat (Haryana) continue to be in charge of the Jantar Mantar venue.
Hamirpur Visit
Gen Satbir, Gen Renjen, Gen Jaini, Col Krit Joshipura, Col Kanwar Bhardwaj and self are leaving early morning Mar 04 to participate in an ESM rally at Mohali (04 Mar) and Hamirpur (Mar 5). In case you do not get the sitrep March 4, it would be because of the indifferent internet coverage in Hamirpur.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM

Rank Based Pension (RBP)
Date: Monday, 2 March, 2009, 10:10 PM
Dear General Surjit and Other veterans,
Yes the term OROP has been arousing obduracy in the govt, jealousy in civil employees and allergy among the judiciary. Our search for an alternative term should end at 'Rank Based Pension'. Barin Ghosh tells us that this system was in vogue till the III PC. Now that the govt has accepted a separate pay commission for the defence services, their resistance to RBP should be hopefully lower.
Will replace OROP with RBP.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM

Fri, Feb 27, 2009 at 8:50 PM, Maj Gen Surjit Singh
Dear Raj and Friends,
I am forwarding a mail from our esteemed senior veteran Gen Bahri. While I will have the issue researched by the officers currently dealing with the subject, the message set me thinking, and I am led to believe, that there is a need for us to change tack. The term OROP has become a red rag to the bull. Successive governments have grappled with it and given it up. I suggest we drop this term and replace it with a simpler term, "RANK BASED PENSION" (RBP)
This will give us the following advantages;
We will be reverting to a system which was in vogue for a long time. I know for sure that for each rank, a pension was specified (Maj Rs 550, Lt col Rs 675 and so on) and as long as an officer had put in a specified length of service, he was granted the pension specified for his rank. It was reduced for lesser service proportionately. The amounts specified for the various ranks were loosely derived from the pay of that rank. The pension had nothing to do with the pay actually drawn by the soldier at the time of retirement. This 'rank based system' is exclusive for the armed forces, and so the civilians can not claim this, ipso facto. The RBP format ensures that there can be no anomalies of the kind which the present system is riddled. It meets the two conditions, namely the length and quality of service as the determinants for pension. It is simple to implement and neither the banks nor the pensioners will have any difficulty in understanding the process. Renjen has also suggested that we choose another term, to show that we are neither rigid nor unreasonable. Let us give a ceremonial burial to OROP and seek the good old and time tested RBP. This might well turn out to be a 'win win' solution.
Regards,
Maj Gen Surjit Singh (Retd)