Friday 5 February 2016

OROP Tables Brig R Vinayak

Dear Veterans,

OROP tables of 03 Feb 2016 vide Government letter released just last evening is in sync with what Hon'ble RM read out on 05 Sep '15. This was followed by Govt notification on 07 Nov '15. There is no change in Government stand and OROP tablets now issued accordingly.  On initial look at the tables it seen that earlier the pension that was fixed at 33 years  rank weightage i.e. for a Col -  33 - 7 = 26 years. Therefore, anyone having less pensionable service less than 26 years service got correspondingly lesser pension  on pro rata basis. Howeve, now a Col with 24 to 26.5 years service will get same pension ie. ₹ 34485/- . Next, a Col with 26 years service who had pension pegged at ₹ 27795/-, now goes upto 29.5 years service. This implies that a Col with more service will get more pension. Further, the difference in pension from Col to Lt Gen (Army Cdr) varies between ₹ 36130/- to ₹ 40000/- thus reducing the gap to below ₹4000/-.  Post implementation of OROP tables, officers with 20 years pensionable service will get higher pension than what they are getting w.e.f. 24 Sep '12.  Pension will be constant for various ranks at various pensionable service i.e. For Cols - 29.5 years instead of 26 years earlier,  Brig - 30.5 years instead of 28 years earlier, Maj Gens - 30 years no change and Lt Gen -  getting more till they reach 33 years pensionable service.  Brigs and Maj Gen will get same pension of ₹ 37275/- after putting in 30.5 years service. OROP pensions will encourage offices superseded in the rank of Lt Col i.e overlooked in their first promotion board, to serve till 26 years to qualify for pension of Colonel. The difference in pension between superseded Lt Col i.e. Col TS with 26 years service (₹ 34485/-) and Col getting overlooked at 29.5 and more years service (₹ 36130/-) is very minimal. There is no difference between pension of Col (TS) and Col (Selection Grade). There is no difference in pension of a Brig and Lt Gen (HAG+) if both of them put in 30.5 years' service ie. ₹  37275/- . Lt Gen (HAG+) gets less pension if he quits at 30 years' service.  
Apparently, the OROP for officers (non- med) is fairly okay, for Doctors it is 'सोने पे सुहागा', as pensioners from Lt Col to Lt Gen is same (they will get pension of almost Army Cdr). Pension of Doctors: 20 years service - ₹ 41513/-; 33 years service - ₹ 42500/-    
As far as personnel below officer rank are concerned the fixation ie mean of minimum and maximum will not be as desired due to wide disparity in intra service and inter service promotion norms and variable trends within each service due to diverse trade structures. Hence, their tables will definitely require review and have to be strongly contested. For this hard negotiations is the answer.
My personal advise to all Armed Forces Veteran Organisations is to firstly get into details of OROP tables issued on 3 Feb '16 and get a team of experts Including legal luminaries) to prepare our case to resolve contentious issues especially in respect of JCO/OR.

ESM community should be indebted to IESM office bearers for their selfless struggle in getting even (approximate) OROP despite all odds.

Way ahead should be an amicable settlement of remaining issues through an atmosphere of cordiality rather than confrontation.

Finally, the Modi led Government and Honb'le RM deserve to be given due credit for having OROP in it's current form and I am confident that remaining issues will be ironed out to culminate on a positive note.

Jai Hind.

Brig R Vinayak, VSM (Retd)
Veteran - Bhopal

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