All India Ex-Services Welfare Association

Dear Friends,

Finding that at this very critical stage of implementation of OROP, the inimical elements again coming up alive to somehow scuttle the decision of OROP, we have appealed to our Hon'ble Prime Minister to kindly intervene with a heavy hand to thwart their designs. Our mail to the PM is given below for your kind information.

Any suggestions on implementation of OROP are welcome.

Warm regards

Lt Col Inderjit Singh
Chairman
Mob: 0 9811007629
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LETTER TO THE HON'BLE PRIME MINISTER

18 Jun 2014

To

The Hon'ble
Sh Narendra Modi
The Prime minister of India
New Delhi

Subject : IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP)

Dear Sir,

We have been struggling to get OROP ever since 22 Feb 1982 when we first time put it up to Indiraji, the then PM. During this long journey five PMs accepted the legitimacy of our demand and very kindly agreed to give it to us, still we could not succeed.

2. Now recently the sixth PM Dr Manmohan Singh's Govt had made the announcement and the Seventh PM, Modi ji you yourself during Elections, had committed to give and after taking over have very emphatically stated that your Govt was fully committed to meeting this demand. So much so the President in his address to joint session of Parliament stated very categorically that his Govt will implement OROP Scheme for the Armed Forces. This has left the entire bureaucracy flustered as to how to go about scuttling OROP under the present circumstances.

Definition

3. From what little has come out of the recent presentation by three Chiefs to the RM we find the efforts are being made to interpret the definition of OROP in a manner by which we can be deprived of the full benefits accruing to us.

4. The definition which evolved over the years after taking into consideration all the objections of the bureaucracy over a period of time is given below:-

"THE PRE 1 JAN 2006 RETIREES GOT THE SAME PENSIONS AS THE POST 01 JAN 2006 RETIREES BY MATCHING UP THE THREE FACTORS THAT GOVERN THE PENSIONS OF EX-SERVICEMEN i.e. THE RANK, THE LENGTH OF SERVICE AND THE TRADE (IN CASE OF ALL RANKS BELOW OFFICER RANKS ONLY). AFTER THIS WAS EFFECTED ANY FUTURE INCREASES BE AUTOMATICALLY APPLIED TO OLD PENSIONERS. THE FAMILY, DISABILITY AND DEPENDENTS PENSIONS ARE INCLUDED FOR THE PURPOSES OF THIS DEFINITION. THIS HOWEVER DOES NOT MEAN THE GRANT OF PENSIONERY BENEFITS SUCH AS DCRG AND ADDITIONAL VALUE OF COMMUTATION PENSION.

5. This definition was simplified by the Koshyari Committee in their wisdom to say-

Veterans with same rank and same length of service,
will get the same pension irrespective of date retirement.
After this was effected any future increases will be automatically
passed on to earlier pensioners

6. This definition though simple covers every aspect of what has been stated in the complete definition.

7. We appeal to you to kindly stop the bureaucrats from giving their own meaning to the definition and work according to the accepted definition. Where they find difficulty in interpreting, our services who are the authors of OROP are always available.

Financial Implications

8. The other aspect that they tried to induct in the discussion is the enormity of the expenditure. We are told they produced astronomical figures amounting to Rs 9100.00 crores to confuse the issue. On this matter we refer you to the expenditure worked out by Koshyari Committee in 2011 and presented to the Parliament in Dec 2011. They worked out an amount of Rs 1300.00 crores to meet the bill for covering all aspects of OROP and we should assume it to be correct. Thereafter there has not been any increase in the pensions of Veterans. The final basic expenditure for OROP therefore remains Rs 1300.00 crores.

9. In 2012 Govt appointed Cabinet Secretary's Committee to work out the award of OROP. They announced that they had given OROP for which the expenditure was Rs 2300.00 crores. We were thrilled and set about analysing the award to know how much OROP it covered. To our dismay we found that the award did not cover even half of what OROP meant but the Govt accounts were to be debited by Rs 2300.00 crore, which was Rs 1,000,00 crore more than total expenditure of Rs 1300.00 crores for OROP. This effort to bridge the gap at best resulted in disbursement of part OROP amount to the tune of a maximum of Rs 500.00 crores. There is no information about balance Rs 1800.00 crores as to how it was utilized. The leadership may like to find it out.

10. With this Rs 500.00 crore already disbursed the balance amount of Rs 800.00 crore is what we require for OROP rather than any astronomical figures. If we wish to add dearness relief to the expenditure then in 2011 the DR was 51 % and now it is 100 % . The increase of 49 % amount i.e Rs 392.00 crores could be added to work out the correct expenditure. This works out to Rs 1192.crores.

11. The next thing that may affect these figures considerably is the implementation of the Rank Pay case award by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The expenditure has yet to be estimated. It is however presumed that it may likely be to the tune of Rs 1500.00 crores. Once this is implemented the total expenditure for OROP will be Rs 2692.00 crores. This amount is a mere pittance and the Govt of India can easily afford to meet the requirements of those who staked their lives for the Nation.

12. The Services have produced a DGL. That needs to be implemented with some slight modifications which can be finalised by discussions among all stakeholders.

13. We appeal to you to kindly brush aside all the objections that are being raised by the bureaucrats and direct them to implement the OROP in both letter and spirit after final discussions by all stakeholders. We would be grateful.

Copy to :- The Hon'ble Sh Arun Jaitley Defense Minister South Block New Delhi The Hon'ble
Shri Rao Inderjit Singh Raksha Rajya Mantri C-1/14 Lodi Garden New Delhi - 110 003
General Bikram Singh, PVSM, UYSM, AVSM, SM, VSM, ADC Chief of the Army Staff & Chairman Chiefs of Staff Committee Integrated HQs of Armed Forces (Army) South Block, New Delhi-110011
Admiral RK Dhowan, PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, Chief of the Naval Staff Integrated HQs of Armed Forces (Navy) South Block, New Delhi-110011
Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha PVSM, AVSM, VM, ADC Chief of the Air Staff Indian Air Force Vayu Bhawan, New Delhi 110011