OROP : Betrayal Disappoints Veterans - Col LK Anand

The OROP which the Government had offered in a much fan fared announcement on 5th Sep 2015, at the end of nearly 15 months in office, was by no means any where near the OROP defined and approved by the Parliament of India.The job which could very well have been accomplished within a month or two in this IT savvy era, has been done in a period of nearly fifteen months, and that too in a most slipshod and incompetent a manner, amounting to letting down and betraying the Veterans in every respect. It obviously appears to be the result of an unholy nexus between the bureaucracy and the concerned ruling party ministers, who have been made to look ignorant of their own  duties and assignments, and have become a party to subverting the true definition of OROP at the behest of a few functionaries, to the disadvantage of the very hopeful Veterans. 

It would be really worth while for Indian public to know about the manner in which a ruling Indian Government, inclusive of its bureaucracy, operates, to bluff and let down its own Veterans, who have sacrificed the best part of their life in the service of this Nation. This certainly is no way to repay the debt, the country owes towards the selfless service and sacrifices of her brave soldiers, who have been compelled to take to the streets to have the promises made by past Governments in the last over four decades, fulfilled to their full satisfaction. 

OROP as per the Koshiyary Committee Report, as also announced in the full house of Parliament by a Minister of State for Defence a few months back, implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces Personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement and any future enhancement in the rates of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners.

The OROP announced by the Government has left a number of important issues like VRS/Premature retirement, date of implementation, ambiguity in adoption of proper base year for OROP, the manner of fixation of pension eligible for each rank, as well as the period of equalisation of pensions which has been fixed as five years unilaterally without realising its serious implications on the pensions of seniors and juniors, still simmering. As a result of this the Veterans are still continuing their agitation/protests as well as the relay hunger strike at Jantar Mantar.

The Government officials and even all the media seem to have decided to totally ignore the peaceful protest cum relay hunger strike of the Veterans, which has been continuing for over 105 days old now.

In addition the bureaucracy has till date failed to issue the Government notification, so that the uncertainty in the minds of the Veterans, could be over, for them to decide upon their future course of action. This could be a recourse to "commencement of Fast Until Death" or else "legal action in an appropriate court of law".

Col Lalit Kumar Anand  (Retd.)

[ Free Press Journal ]