OROP: Veterans sign petition to PM Modi in blood; demand early implementation

The government will notify the one-rank-one-pension scheme after the Bihar assembly elections are completed, defence minister Manohar Parrikar said Monday citing the Model Code of Conduct for the delay.

“I will try to issue notification before Diwali”, Parrikar said at a Naval Commanders Conference here. The five-phase Bihar elections will conclude on November 5 and the results will be declared on November 8, but the model code of conduct will be in place till November 12.

“It (notification) can be issued inside days after the Bihar ballot course of ends”, Parrikar informed reporters right here.

He said the government did not come out with the notification as the model code of conduct has been in place.

The protesting ex-servicemen signed a letter to the Prime Minister in blood, demanding the early implementation of the “One Rank One Pension” (OROP) scheme. It added that that the government’s declaration on September 15 had several shortcomings that would kill the very idea of OROP. The letter further accused Parrikar of “changing the goalpost” every now and then.

The protesting veterans requested the Prime Minister to concern notification to implement OROP scheme on the earliest. Mumbai convener of the Indian Ex-servicemen movement (IESM) Col Harbhajnik Singh (Retd) said the grievance over OROP dates back to 1973 when earlier OROP scheme was withdrawn by the Centre.