SCPC: OROP promise yet again?

News item exactly 5 years ago
19 Mar 2004, 0109 hrs IST, Rajat Pandit , TNN
NEW DELHI: Ex-servicemen, be forewarned. Politicians will once again try to woo you with tall promises of ushering in the long-sought "one-rank, one-pension" (OROP) principle in the run-up to the general election.

But, as has happened in the past, they will promptly consign it to the dusty files in South Block once they assume power.

Successive Union governments have brushed aside recommendations by parliamentary committees to swiftly resolve "the disparity of pensionary benefits between pensioners of the same rank" without much ado.

"The OROP proposal," say defence ministry officials, "is simply not feasible at the moment. If the principle is accepted, the total financial implication is estimated to be well over Rs 3,500 crore, with the additional liabilities being around Rs 650 crore annually."

This estimate takes into account payment of arrears with effect from January 1, 1996, the date from which the recommendations of the fifth pay panel were effective.

"It's also not possible to implement OROP due to administrative reasons and possible repercussions from the civil side, public sector and autonomous bodies," said an official.

Political parties, however, continue to pull the OROP rabbit out of their hats every time a general election comes near. Ex-servicemen, after all, constitute a sizable vote-bank.

Defence pensioners alone notch up a tally of over 20 lakh, with another 55,000 being added every year. If you add family members, over one crore people in India are directly connected with defence personnel or ex-servicemen.

So, it's no wonder that most political parties want to lure ex-servicemen to their fold. The Congress, in its 1999 election manifesto, for instance, said: "The issue of OROP will be re-examined and a solution to the satisfaction of ex-servicemen found expeditiously."

The BJP said, "The government will recognise the services and sacrifices of retired personnel."
One-rank, one-pension promise yet again?

Comment: Bureaucrats rule the roost. The Armed Forces have been ruined and slowly and surely command and control degraded! No resources for the soldiers legitimate entitlements. Certainly in days to come armed civilians to protect the nation is the only viable option?