There are serious and objectionable anomalies, the most important being the dilution of OROP’s accepted definition, say servicemen.
Calling the latest One Rank One Pension (OROP) notification issued by the Defence Ministry a farce, the ex-servicemen from Maharashtra have decided to return their military medals as a mark of protest. The veterans from the state would start returning their medals to the respective district collectors from November 15, soon after the Diwali celebrations are over. The Defence Ministry on Saturday issued the OROP notification for ex-servicemen with a small change from its earlier notification, which too was rejected by the veterans. This time, the government dropped the controversial clause of excluding the the ex-servicemen — who had sought premature retirement — from OROP.
At the same time, the veterans’ demands like annual adjustment in pensions up to the maximum of the current pensioners and appointment of a committee on the issue were not included in the notification. A statement issued by the Maharashtra Chapter of Indian Ex-servicemen Movement (IESM) said, “The government’s implementation plan of OROP as declared on Saturday is a big sham. It is not OROP. The Defence Minister had accepted the OROP implementation plan as projected by the United Front of Ex-Servicemen (UFESM) and had also cleared the file for notification. The veterans across the nation were absolutely certain that the notification will be as per the assurance.” The statement further said, “Even the announcement on September 5 was nowhere near the OROP as approved by Parliament as recommended by Bhagat Singh Koshiyari Committee. There are serious and objectionable anomalies, the most important being the dilution of OROP’s accepted definition. As per the definition, the pension benefit will be passed on to retired soldiers as and when the review takes place once a year. The government has said that it will be once in five years.” Veterans who are part of the UFESM, which has been formed by coming together of several ex-servicemen’s organisations, have also raised concerns about the one-man commission to look in to the anomalies. The veterans want a five-member commission, three of which will be the Ex-Service Men and one each from judiciary and services. Brig Sharad Luktuke (Retd) of the IESM said, “Veterans in Maharashtra will start returning their medals to the respective collectors from November 15 in protest against the way the government deceived them time and again on the issue. A half page advertisement with PM’s picture as attached appeared in newspapers and it said ‘future enhancements in the rates of pension would be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.’ So, even the PM has not kept his word.” At the national-level too, the veterans have announced that they will return their medals and observe Diwali as a Black Diwali.