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| ESSENCE OF ‘ONE RANK ONE PENSION’ | | A DEMAND OF SOLDIERS PENDING SINCE LONG | | Col J P Singh, Retd | 5/4/2011 11:50:47 PM |
| One Rank One Pension (OROP) is a legitimate demand of armed forces, which has been denied to them for nearly three decades. Simply stated, OROP means that two pensioners who retired in the same rank after rendering equal service irrespective of their date of retirement must get the same pension. It also essentially means compensation for compulsory early retirement at much younger age. It is reiterated that soldiers and officers are retired at younger age so that the youthful profile of armed forces is maintained. Unfortunately, the government has not understood the demand. It seems to be under the erroneous impression that the pensioners can be ignored with impunity.
Armed Forces fight wars; for doing so successfully, it is essential that a young profile of armed forces is retained. The result is that soldiers are retired younger. While those who serve in armed forces retire by rank, the others retire by age. Starting from the lowest ranks, Sepoys / NCO’s are compulsorily sent home when their age is at mid thirties. Their counterparts in civil services, the police and other govt services retire at 60. There is no compensation for the soldiers for the differential of an average of 25 years, even though the cumulative effect works out to about Rs. 45 lac upto the age of 60 and nearly 60 lac upto the current longevity index of 75 years of age. Next are the JCO’s. They are sent home between 40 to 45 years of age. They get no compensation for15 to 20 years of differential from their civilian counterparts. Thereafter are officers, whose retirement is related to their ranks. Earlier Majors retired at 48, Lt Cols at 50 and Cols at 52, (now up to Col retire at 54), Brigs at 56, Maj Gen at 58 and Lt Gen at 60. Above them are only the three chiefs. They retire at the age of 62.
Since the date of retirement and length of service determine the quantum of pension, with each pay commission, soldiers who retire early receive lesser pension compared to those who retire later in same rank with same service. A soldier faces 3 to 4 pay commissions whereas his counterparts face 6 to 7 pay commission. Soldiers suffer the disparity bred by it every 10 years. In summation, our jawans and NCO’s lose 50 % of their emoluments because they retire nearly 25 years before their civilian counterparts; our JCO’s lose 15 to 20 years emoluments and the bulk of officers lose between six to four years. There is no compensation for this loss, which is patently unfair. Comparing take home package of a jawan and a constable, a jawan gets half at the age of 35 (pension) of what a constable gets at that age which keeps multiplying with each year & each pay commission. Where is equity, fairness and justice? Should a soldier get compensated or not? It is a demand for equity & justice; not for money per se. In addition, when a soldier proceeds on retirement, their family obligations like educating and marrying children stare them in the face. Having given his youth in the service of nation he is laughed at and harassed by a Patwari, a Constable. civil society and politicians. He is subjected to pay bribes for every job in the civil. No wonder ex-servicemen, especially those in junior ranks get disillusioned with strange behaviour of society and die at much younger ages.
This was not the case prior to and at the time of our Independence. Till 1950, all ex-servicemen received a military pension, which was equivalent to their last pay drawn. The rationale was obvious; the government understood the peculiar and incomparable nature of military service as also the sacrifices a soldier makes for the nation. The civil government employees, on the other hand, received 33 % of their last pay as their pension. But in Sixties, despite 62 debacle, pension of military personnel was arbitrarily reduced to 70%. There were major rumblings of discontent amongst the soldiers, but being completely apolitical and fiercely patriotic, they accepted govt decision in the best interest of the nation.
The first nail in the pension coffin of the armed forces was driven in by Third Pay Commission, wherein the armed forces were brought under the ambit of the Central Pay Commissions. It was done on the plea that there was need to establish some sort of parity amongst the different segments of government employees, completely forgetting that there is nothing in common between military service and service in other civil departments. This was the first time that the political leadership succumbed to the blandishments of bureaucratic advisors. Thereafter, the bureaucrats continued to go deeper in to their game of one upmanship, till a nadir was reached in the Sixth Pay Commission, when the bureaucrats went berserk. It was only the hard stand taken by the services chiefs and the intervention of the Prime Minister that some improvements were affected, but only for those in active service. Ex-servicemen, war disabled, widows, and family pensioners were left to fend for themselves. This resulted in a spate of court cases. Despite relief given, the government continues to ignore even the directive of Supreme Court. Presently the govt has requested the Petitions Committee of the Rajya Sabha to go through various facets of the long-pending demand of OROP and make recommendations. Isolated, the govt can only delay but can’t deny it. Seeing discrimination with his father or uncle, it is difficult to presume that serving soldiers will not be affected. The unhappy prospect of soldiers can be disastrous.
The apathy of Sixth Pay Commission would also be remembered, when for the first time in the nation’s history, veterans came out in the streets to protest against the denial of justice and equity at the behest of the bureaucrats. They returned their medals, gallantry awards and artificial limbs to the President; their supreme commander. But it is to their credit that despite getting their backs to the wall, their protests were peaceful and the dignity of the service was not compromised.
The watershed in the saga of emoluments and pension of the military personnel is that despite pleas prior every pay commission that the armed forces be kept out of their purview, the government did not agree. Even the plea that military representatives should be incorporated in the pay commissions was summarily dismissed. What a dismal way of treating soldiers who die to make the country safe and secure from the enemies which are not less for India. One must ponder how unnatural it is for a soldier to be ordered to advance against the showers of bullets and die an unnatural death for the sake of his country (countrymen) and how natural it is for the bureaucrats to deny him justice and equity.
(author is a columnist, political analyst and social worker and can be assessed at [email protected]).
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