OROP: The Pension Proposal Projected by IESM

Friends,
Much has been expressed on the net by numerous officers on the preparation & presentations of the IESL paper, inadequacy of IESM paper, need for joint effort (unity is a Utopian idea, joint effort should be immediate objective) between the ESM organisations- primarily IESL & IESM. Here is some information for you all.

True that IESM is not recognised by the GoI. Besides anything else, recognition demands a membership base of one lakh, spread across India. We were told by Secy ESW in our meeting with her a few days back that the GoI cannot consult all and sundry ESM orgs and has therefore invited only the recognised bodies for consultation. We have learnt that orgs like the AFA and the War Disabled Association, have been specifically exempted form the requirement of having one lakh members. IESL and these two were therefore invited.

Wishing that IESL should have insisted on IESM presence at the presentation/ discussion with the Cab Sec, for the sake of ESM solidarity is again a Utopian wish under the present circumstances. IESL sub-committee tasked to prepare the paper was not ready to even discuss their thinking with us during the formulation stage, having been so instructed by the IESL. I had personally made a request to each member of the Committee. To be fair to AVM Mishra, he told me that we should send him our paper and that if necessary, he would ask for clarifications etc. I do wish that we had sat down across the table and discussed our views threadbare and then presented a paper acceptable to all.

In the event, however, IESL submitted a paper of their own. As already indicated by Maj Gen Satbir Singh in another mail, we learnt from extremely reliable sources that although a presentation had been sought by the Cab Sec, none was given by IESL on the pretext that their paper had conveyed all that they wished to. The IESL however, submitted the following four options to the Cab Sec:
1. Pensions to be based on 'top of the band'. However, if that cannot be given;
2. These may then be based on 'middle of the band'. If that was also not possible;
3. Convert our old pensions to the equivalent stage in the pay band. However, if that too was not possible;
4. Fix each rank's pension to the lowest level in the fixation tables for the rank, issued vide SAI/SNI/SAFI - 1 & 2 of 2008. (The source did not exactly remember this option but felt that it was as stated here).

To remove any misgivings about IESM 'non-paper', let me clarify that IESM too had prepared its paper. It, however, decided to only send the bare concept to the GoI rather than a full paper along with the tables. This was done by Lt Gen Kadyan in his letter to the RM, MoS (Defence), Cab Sec, Secy ESW amongst others (recently circulated by Maj Gen Satbir Singh via e mail to all). However, a presentation was also prepared with complete details & tables, should we be called upon to discuss our proposal with the Cab Sec. We were never called!!

We are not aware how the IESM paper reached IESL but what they presented in the meeting of 15 jun to all attendees was the 'first draft' prepared by us, which underwent changes as the proposal finally took shape. Be it as it may, but the IESL proposal presented at this meeting did not meet the very stringent criteria that we had set for ourselves in evolving our paper. IESM has always stood for equity between all pensioners, irrespective of vintage, rather than seeking more for the sake of asking. In our judgement, therefore, we did not find that the IESL proposal was supported by logic and thus did not endorse it.

Please click here for a very brief insight in to the making of the IESM proposal.
Best regards,
Maj Gen (Retd) PK Renjen, AVSM