OROP: Battling for OROP, ex-servicemen train their guns on bureaucracy
Written by Sushant Kulkarni | Pune | Published:July 19, 2015 2:39 am
‘People say we are fighting for money… but it’s about our rights… the bureaucracy has become the biggest obstacle to OROP’
As the Kargil Vijay Diwas, celebrated on July 26 to commemorate the victory in Kargil war, is approaching, the ex-servicemen who are “deeply hurt” by the delay in the implementation of One Rank One Pension (OROP) policy in spite of the election promises made by BJP which is in power now are asking if the government really cares about its war heroes, veterans and widows of the warriors.
Pune being one of the important centres of defence-related activities because of presence of several institutions, it has also been battle ground for the OROP from the beginning. Two war veterans, Wing Commander S D Karnik (retired) and Wing Commander K V Bopardikar (retired), stepped up the agitation for OROP against the government by refusing to be felicitated by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at a function in Pune in the last week of May this year.
The incident sparked the nationwide debate about the OROP.
Wing Commander Karnik (80), a war hero of 1971 war and a Vir Chakra recipient, says, “Immediately after I declared my refusal to accept the felicitation, I got call a from the Central government, asking me to rethink about my stand and saying that refusing the honour would be an insult. This shows that the government is concerned about its image but not about the soldiers who fought for the country, protected the citizens and ensured safety during the natural calamities.”
As per the definition accepted by Parliament from the report of Koshiyari Committee, OROP implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. And any future enhancement in the rates of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.
Commander Ravindra Pathak (retired) of the Pension Cell of the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement says, “People say we are fighting for money. But this battle is for asserting our rights. In the civil-military balance, which is essential to India’s defence philosophy, political control of the defence forces has actually turned into the bureaucratic control. It is the bureaucracy which has become the biggest obstacle to OROP. Several other countries including some of our enemies have implemented the policy of OROP for their defence forces.”
Commander Pathak added, “The current defence pension budget is around Rs 54,500 crore and as per figure given by the current defence minister, the OROP would cause an additional expenditure of over Rs 8,200 crore. Do we need to tell our citizens where this figure stands as compared to tax rebates and subsidies to big businesses ? Also, there is no actual data available about the exact number of pensioners and closest kin receiving the pensions and their current status.”
As per a primary estimate, there are at least 28 lakh ex-servicemen and widows drawing pensions.
The arguments on side of the government, and especially the Finance Ministry, is that as defence personnel retire at an early age, they draw the pensions for much longer periods and thus OROP may result into swelling of the defence budget.
The ratio of pensioners to serving personnel in the military is 1.7:1 as against 0.56:1 among the civilians. But the veterans say it’s the price the nation needs to pay for maintaining a standing Army.
Group Caption S S Phatak (retired) says, “Peaceful agitation will be intensified till the OROP is granted. The anger against the government is visible and already rasta roko and burning of effigies are taking place at some places. The government needs to act fact.”
See more at: Indian Express
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COMMENTS
Even if such eye openers are not sufficient for the authorities,then We really need to WAKE UP on the issue immediately.
The bureaucrats of Finance Ministry are of the opinion that as Armed Force's personnel retire at an early age, they draw the pensions for much longer periods and thus OROP may result into swelling of the Defence budget. True the ratio of ESM is 1.7:1 and the civilians, that is the result of keeping the fighting forces young and fit for battle with efficiency, where as the old, inefficient and crippled can work in the civilian sector of the government. This is a price to pay by the government to the Services to ensure effective National security. The civil-military balance is essential to India’s defence philosophy and this is totally absent in the present scenario, political control of the defence forces has actually turned into the bureaucratic control. These bureaucrats are against the ESM's rightful OROP demand and this must be condemned by the Nation vehemently in one voice. The ESM are “deeply hurt” by the delay in the implementation of OROP Scheme in spite of the election promises made by BJP, if the government really cares about the Nation's war heroes and Vir Naaris. The OROP Scheme must be put in place by the government before celebrating those victory ceremonies planned to self glorify themselves. It will be a debacle unheard of in the world's history to celebrate these victories without those 70-80% of the ESM who participated in those wars. Is there nobody to empathise with the senior Veterans of the Nation who are driven to streets in protest for the last 36 days? Before this dissatisfaction percolates into the rank and file of the in-service Armed Forces Personnel, it is better for the government and the bureaucrats to wake up to reality. It is always better to correct this much delayed matter of National security which might end unpalatable results. Incidentally most of our neighbouring Armed Forces enjoy this OROP and is a slap on our government's face.