Everything You Need to Know About One Rank, One Pension

BENGALURU: Ex-servicemen and the opposition Congress appeared skeptic after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assurance on rolling out the 'one rank one pension (OROP)' scheme. PM Modi sought some time to resolve its complexities and find a solution.

Before the government gets to a conclusion over the issue, here is detailed insight as to why the armed forces demand the implementation of the ‘One Rank, One Pension’ scheme reports TOI. :

What is One rank, One Pension

Uniformity is all the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) is about. With the coming in on One Rank, One Pension, all the military personnel retiring in same rank with same length of service, irrespective of the date retirement will receive a uniform pension. Also any hike in pension rates will automatically get passed on to past pensioners.

Why is it demanded?

Military personnel retire much earlier (based on rank) unlike the civilian employees who retire at 60. While most sepoys retire at 35-38 and only 10 percent of them become junior commissioned officers (JCOs). This is the time family liability is maximum and it is difficult for them to make a second career after that.

And most officers retire in early-50s and only a few become Lt-Generals/Air Marshals/Vice-Admirals to serve till 60.  The reason they demand for the implementation of this scheme is that the terms and conditions of military services are much tougher than civilian employees. Also soldiers undergo hardship postings, with risk to life and restriction of fundamental rights

Then the successive pay commissions have widened gap between veterans who have retired earlier and those who retire later.

The numbers involved

TOI reports that there are 24.25 lakh registered ex-servicemen and over 13 lakh serving military personnel. And by far about 8,300 Crore is the estimated cost of OROP.

Problems involved

These are some obvious problems. Financially, grant of full OROP will further bloat the government’s pension bill.

As we see the numbers 24.25 lakh is not a small one , and it is indeed a huge task to pass all the benefits on to all living ex-servicemen without an actual cut-off date.

And if the scheme is rolled out this will lead to similar demands by other government employees, especially the paramilitary forces.

Also Read: We're Committed To One Rank, One Pension For Ex-Servicemen- Modi
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