One Rank One Pension

ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP) A SYMBOL OF

HONOR AND JUSTICE

1. The most tragic thing in the present Society is that Soldier who gives everything to the Nation is not a man of honor, it appears that we are such a isolated society of our Country who have only learned to give but denied the other part. Until our leaders do not bear the sense of responsibility in relation with Integrity and each other’s welfare, social justice can never be attained, since darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Soldier remains quite unmindful of personal discomfort and hardships.. “History does not repeat itself,” it is famously said, “but fools repeat history.” Philosopher-poet George Santayana put it slightly differently when he wrote— “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” Prime Minister and the Defense Minister to read. Kautilya discretely but firmly reminded the king that his safety and security as well as of his empire depend on the trust and sacrifice of his soldiers. Chanakya gave his king this blunt warning: “The day the soldier has to demand his dues will be a sad day for Magadha for then, on that day, you will have lost all moral sanction to be King!” PM Narender Modi, please don't listen to your bureaucrats, visualize the conditions of Indian solders suffered from Colonial period. Shashi Tharoor's Oxford speech has been appreciated in the Parliament by PM Narender Modi indicating special facial gesture, may be only for the part which favors the situation. Kindly remember that he has also mentioned the contribution of Indian Soldiers fought for British, where 194,373 soldiers took part and out of these 24, 338 were killed , 64, 354 were wounded and 11,754 were missing. At the end maximum of these soldiers were sent home without pension on demobilization of Indian Army, Mr PM are you aware of this ? Many of them became mentally ill and the disease declared as Constitutional and sent home without disability pension and same rule is being followed till now, no pension is granted for all such disabilities.

2. Has anyone of our Political Leaders tried to understand the Invisible Injuries of War Impact on Military Families? Indian Soldiers are fighting daily war against the Extremists and at the borders with enemy. The invisible injuries of service members resulting from our nation’s war on terrorism pose complex challenges for military families, especially military children. With injuries such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), there are often dramatic changes in personality and behavior. This “injury duality” — looking the same, but not acting the same — is troubling for family members, friends and co-workers, and can be particularly confusing for children who thrive on parental consistency, trust and safety. No one has yet cared about this invisible growing problem. The day is not far off when it will turn into dangerous shape, and we may be declared part of isolated society. We have all the rights to claim the compensation for such damage caused due to the dreaded service Conditions.

3. It is a matter of surprise that 20 lakhs veterans of armed forces were compelled to fight for the legitimate right of One Rank One Pension (OROP) due to unpleasant approaches of the Government. Inspite of various discussion on National TV Channels and orders from various Courts of the Country including Supreme Court, but nothing has turned into reality. Few examples are quoted below which shows the gross negligence:-

• Until 1973, officers drew 50% of their last drawn salary as pension every month and jawans/junior commissioned officers drew 70%. But this changed after the Third Pay Commission’s suggestions came in that year: military pensions were reduced and aligned with civilian pensions by increasing 17%.
• The retirement age for civil servants is 60 years, 85% soldiers are compulsorily retired between 35 and 37 years of age and another 12% to 13% soldiers between 40 and 54 years.
• Civil servants are protected under Section 47 of the Disability Act and cannot be discharged by the government on account of disability until they reach the retirement age. This section doesn’t apply to the defence forces can be discharged anytime on account of disability with or without Pension.
• Sixth Pay Commission granted what bureaucrats call “non-functional upgrade” (NFU) to officers in all-India Group A services. This is a sort of ‘pay-promotion’ allowing them to draw higher pay than their rank under certain conditions. Almost all civil servants benefit from this while defence services officers do not. NFU is a sort of “OROP” which is granted with clever approach for civil servants”.
• Serious disparities seem to have crept into other field allowances. For example, army Special Forces soldiers get an extra Rs 800-1,200 per month as allowance, while Cobra commandos of the paramilitary forces earn an extra Rs 7,200-11,000 per month.
• Only 0.8% of defence officers make it to the rank of major general after 28 years of service, compared to a much higher rate of civil servants who are eligible to become joint secretaries, an equivalent rank, at 19 years of service.
• Pay allowance of other country’s soldiers are far batter, American soldiers have a 15-20% edge over other government employees, British 10%, Japanese 12-29% and French soldiers 15%. In pensions, while Indian soldiers get 50% of their last pay per month, American soldiers get 50-75%, Australian 76.5%, Japanese 70% and French soldiers 75%.
• Inspite of an order given by the Honorable Supreme Court by dismissing more than 800 multiple appeals from the Ministry of Defence (MoD) against broad banding of disability percentage yet it has not been implimated.

4. Such inequality has been the result of the Recommendations of various pay commissions in an unjustified way. It is really surprising and shocking as to how different retired persons, who retired from the same position or rank after having rendered the same number of years’ service but retiring at different times, are paid different and unequal pension amounts. Why this inequality, in spite of the right to equality guaranteed under the Constitution?

5. Soldiers feel unappreciated Governments have gradually reduced the place of soldiers in the administrative hierarchy in orders of precedence and pay. The time has come to reset the civil-military balance, restoring the military its rightful place in a democratic way, relay-hunger strikes is going on at various places but still no response from the Government has not yet been received. In the case of D.S. Nakara, it has held by the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court that all pensioners have equal right to receive the benefits of a liberalized pension scheme. It was also held that the pensioners form a class as a whole and cannot be micro-classified by an arbitrary, unprincipled and unreasonable eligibility criterion for the purpose of grant of revised pension. Moreover, the criterion of enforcement of the revised pension scheme entitling benefits of the revision to those retiring after a specific date while depriving the benefits to those retiring prior to that date was held to be violative of Article 14 of the Constitution of India.

6. On 16 February 2015, when the contempt matter relating to SPS Vains case (along with a Civil Appeal with the title of “Union of India through Defence Secretary & Others vs. SPS Vains & Ors.”) was listed before a 2-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, the Supreme Court passed the following order:- “Ms. Pinky Anand, learned Additional Solicitor General, prays for and is granted three months’ time finally to work out the modalities for implementation of the one rank-one pension principle on which the Tribunal has passed the impugned judgment. The principle is also, it appears, covered by the decision of this Court in Union of India & Anr. v. SPS Vains (Retd.) & Ors. – (2008) 9 SCC 125.

7. "The assault on military veterans, at Jantar Mantar on August 14, might go down in history as the lowest point of the Modi Government". quoted in Swarajaya written by Mr Jay Bhattacharjee (Jay Bhattacharjee is a policy and corporate affairs analyst based in Delhi.) Each personality leaves her or his footprint behind, similarly shameful act committed by PM Modi Government whereby on his order Police force was asked to take action against the Military Veterans shows the poorly understanding the depth of post implications, it appears that it was the best suited way to solve the problems of Veterans by muting their voice . We must understand that Ghandiism is only workable if other follows it. Some one has rightly said the following:-

"Lions led by donkeys" is a phrase popularly used to describe the British infantry of World War I and to blame the generals who led them. The contention is that the brave soldiers (lions) were sent to their deaths by incompetent and indifferent leaders (donkeys).One has to step out because "Donkeys are ruled in the Kingdom of donkeys".

COL SKS CHAMBIAL