Not every OROP demand can be met, says Parrikar

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday said every demand by ex-servicemen on the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme couldn’t be met, after a section of the veterans expressed dissatisfaction on a government notification.

“This is democracy. Everyone has a right to demand. But their main demand for same pension for same rank has been given. Rest is everything that we had declared (on September 5). Out of that, the confusion about voluntary retirement scheme has been removed,” Parrikar said on the sidelines of a function here.

The defence minister underlined that the “basic core issue” was addressed and if there was an anomaly, the judicial commission would look into that.

A section of the ex-servicemen had objected to the notification. Maj Gen (retd) Satbir Singh, Chairman of Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement spearheading the protest said: “The notification will not be acceptable to the rank and file. It is not one rank, one pension but one rank, five pension. We will study the fine print and discuss with our lawyers before deciding on the future course of action.”

Another faction on Monday came out with a different version. “We accept the government announcement on pension. But the single point of protest is there should be yearly review and not five-year review,” Col Dinesh Nain (rtd), secretary general of United Front of Ex-Servicemen, said in a statement.

The government on Saturday notified the OROP scheme benefiting 25 lakh ex-servicemen and six lakh war widows. The notification is in line with what Parrikar announced in September, barring one key provision.

The notification dropped the contentious proposal to exclude ex-servicemen who sought premature retirement from the ambit of OROP.

The government rejected the demands for annual revision and for pegging the pension to the maximum of the current pensioners, among others.