One Rank One Pension

The Indian government has come up with the One Rank One Pension (OROP) in what is being
seen as a final effort to get the
attention of the defence community of the country at the present moment there are 14
lakh soldiers and officers serving in various capacities in different wings of the national
armed forces. There are also in excess of 25 lakh military officers in India who have retired.
Incidentally, this has been demanded for a long time now and has also been promised but till
now it had not been implemented. This is also being regarded as an important step taken by
the ruling government before the national assembly elections come calling a few months
later.
P Chidambaram, the Union Finance Minister, has stated that the OROP will be implemented
in a proactive manner and will come into play from the ongoing financial year. The
government will be transferring an amount of INR 500 crore to the pension accounts of
defence personnel. The main aim of this transfer is to bring down the gap in the amounts
being received by people who have retired prior to 2006 and ones who have retired after
that.
In fact, in the week gone by, Rahul Gandhi, the prime ministerial candidate for Congress, had
lent his support towards the demands for OROP by former armed forces officers. In some
ways, this event could now be regarded as a sign of things to come. It needs to be
considered in this scenario that if the armed forces officers, soldiers and their family
members are taken into account, it would come up to almost 2 crore voters, which is a
sizeable base that the ruling party can do with.
As per OROP, defence officers who have retired in the same rank and have served for a
similar period of time, they will be paid the same pension. It will not take into consideration
the year of their retirement. In the last 4-5 years many ex-servicemen have become
disillusioned with how the OROP issue has been handled and have thus staged rallies and
also given back their medals. During one such rally organized at Rewari during September,
VK Singh, an erstwhile chief of the Indian Army and Narendra Modi had attended the
proceedings. The main issue was the fact that OROP was not being implemented. In fact, in
some circles this step of passing the OROP is being seen as an eyewash of sorts.
A senior military official has termed the amount to be fairly low. As per the official it is
strange that even though the UPA has been at the center they have introduced the measure
only a few months prior to the election. The amount has also been termed as being an
insufficient one. Previously an amount of INR 1730 crores had been calculated for the 2014-
15 fiscal by the controller general, defence accounts, and the ministry of defence. In some
official sources, an amount of INR 3 thousand crores was supposed to be set aside for OROP
on a yearly basis.
However, the ministry of defence has gauged the various aspects of this financial benefit
and the manner of its implementation is expected to be worked out in the weeks to come. As
per officials from the ministry the quoted figure is just a way of showing that the government
is committed towards extending the benefit. Chidambaram has said that if any additional
amount is needed for this purpose then the same will be provided too, thus confirming the
opinions of the defence ministry. The government, though, has not provided any reason as to
why the OROP proposal was not passed previously and not mentioned the administrative
and legal procedures that led to it being delayed.
It is expected that this financial benefit for the military officers and soldiers could lead to
civilians making similar demands and it could cost the government anywhere between INR
8,000 and 9,000 crores per year.

Recent Developments
According to government sources, the long-pending OROP scheme is likely to be rolled
out ahead of the Bihar assembly polls.
On 15 June 2015, a group of about 55 ex-servicemen who belong to Jalandhar district
began their relay-hunger strike at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, demanding the government
to announce a date to introduce the OROP policy.
On 10 June 2015, a group of ex-servicemen met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and
expressed their concerns regarding the delay in the OROP scheme which is likely to benefit
as many as 22 lakh retired defence personnel.
On 3 June 2015, a group of ex-servicemen led by Maj Gen Satbir Singh (retd) met
Dalbir Singh Suhag and discussed about the early implementation of one rank one
pension scheme.

Why the One Rank One Pension scheme is so terribly

important for the Indian military
Theres talk once again of the One Rank One Pension scheme for the armed forces in the
countrys news pages. Once again, political parties are wrangling over it as more than 2.5
million veterans who have been waiting for the scheme for three decades watch from the
sidelines.

One Rank One Pension, or OROP, implies payment of a uniform pension to personnel retiring
in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. At
present, pensioners who retired before 2006 draw a lower pension than their counterparts
and juniors who retired afterwards.

The disparity between past and present pensioners has grown with every successive Pay
Commission. It became most visible after the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commissions
recommendations in 2000s. A sepoy who retired before 1996 gets 82% less pension than a
sepoy who retired after 2006. Among officers, a major who retired pre-1996 gets 53% less
pension than a major who retired post-2006.

Predictably, this situation has left the ex-servicemen community extremely unhappy.

Why military pensions are different

Until 1973, officers drew 50% of their last drawn salary as pension every month and
jawans/junior commissioned officers drew 70%. But this changed after the Third Pay
Commissions suggestions came in that year: military pensions were reduced and aligned
with civilian pensions.

Many of those who resist One Rank One Pension argue that, given the alignment in military
and civilian pensions, the scheme for the military may prompt similar calls from others. Their
argument is, however, misplaced. Notwithstanding the pensions, the military is distinct from
other government services.

To start with, armed forces personnel do not get to serve as long as those in the civil
services. While the retirement age for civil servants is 60 years, 85% soldiers are
compulsorily retired between 35 and 37 years of age and another 12% to 13% soldiers
between 40 and 54 years.

Further, civil servants are protected under Section 47 of the Disability Act and cannot be
discharged by the government on account of disability until they reach the retirement age.
This section doesnt apply to the defence forces and they can be discharged anytime on
account of disability.

The Legal Position

In 1983, the Supreme Court had ruled in the case of DS Nakra and others vs Union of India
that pension is not a bounty nor a matter of grace depending upon the sweet will of the
employer. It is not an ex-gratia payment, but a payment for past services rendered."

The apex court spoke again on this issue in the case of Union of India & Maj Gen SPS Vains &
Others in 2009. It ruled then that no defence personnel senior in rank could get a lower
pension than his junior irrespective of the date of retirement, and that similarly placed
officers of the same rank should be given the same pension irrespective of the date of
retirement.

On February 17 this year, the court, while hearing a contempt petition filed by Maj Gen
(Retd) SPS Vains, directed the Centre to implement its six-year-old verdict and follow the
OROP principle for retired armed forces personnel. It reminded the Bharatiya Janata Party-led
government that the party had promised to do so in the run-up to last years Lok Sabha
elections.

The bench, comprising Justices TS Thakur and AK Goel, warned the government of contempt
if it failed to abide by the order within three months. We make it clear that no further time
will be granted for the purpose of [the] implementation of the judgement, it told additional
solicitor general Pinky Anand.

Long overdue

The OROP scheme has been on an endless journey for the past three decades. Successive
governments have ignored it or pushed it to the backburner, suggesting that armed forces
veterans are secondary to political expediency and politics. Last year, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had offered new hope when he said his government would implement it as
soon as possible.

While the euphoria generated by Modis statements pre- and post-election has died down,
the military veterans are still cautious. They have heard statements before declaring that
OROP has been cleared, finalised, signed. They now want a government order that
confirms the scheme, putting an end to the pension disparity that has hurt so many veterans
across ranks.

The decades-long governmental apathy towards ex-servicemens demands has put a

financial squeeze on veterans who retired years ago and now cant meet the rising costs of
living with their low pensions. It has also projected the armed forces as an unattractive
career option for the youth. Lured by the far more lucrative salaries in the corporate sector,
hundreds of officers opt out of the services for better financial prospects. This has led to an
acute shortage of manpower in the armed forces.

While the armed forces are called upon to help in every major emergency be it the Yemen
evacuations, the Uttarakhand flood rescue operation, or Operation Maitri in earthquake-hit
Nepal there is nobody heeding the call when these men are in need. The Indian
government must fulfil its much-repeated promise if it wants to keep the countrys armed
forces motivated.