‘One rank, one pension’ scheme before next Budget: Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the ‘one rank, one pension’ policy would be implemented in the defence forces before the next Budget.

“One rank, one pension policy will be implemented. We are right now working on its detailing,” Parrikar said. The implementation has lot of financial implications which are being worked out, he said.

“It has a lot of financial implications. Details would be available only once we work it out,” Parrikar said.

‘One rank, one pension’ policy means soldiers of the same rank and same length of service get the same pension irrespective of their retirement date. Parrikar said the announcement to implement the policy was made in the last Budget.

“Now we will have to implement it. I have kept a target that it will be implemented before the next Budget. My effort is to ensure that it should be implemented as soon as possible. My target is that it should not wait for the next Budget,” he said.

Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha recently, the Congress had accused the government of delaying the implementation of the scheme. The OROP had been announced in the Interim Budget in February, but was yet to be implemented, Congress MP from Rohtak, Deepender Hooda, said in Parliament.

Deepender Hooda accused the bureaucracy of trying to dilute the original meaning of OROP as defined by the Koshiyari Committee, which was the petition committee of the Rajya Sabha. Hooda had asked the government to come out and announce the implementation of OROP. — PTI