Ex-servicemen to intensify protest over OROP after PM made no definite

The main dispute between the military veterans and the government is over which year’s scales should be taken as the base for OROP – the government wants to take the 2011 rates, while the veterans want those of 2014.

Both Singh and Rathore are ministers in the Modi government. As soon as the former army men understood that Modi was not going to announce the scheme, they men rose to feet and shouted slogans against the PM.

Addressing the nation on Independence day, he iterated that the government has accepted the demand for OROP in principle. “Some even made small promises but the issue could not be solved”.

He explained his government was working out the nitty-gritty. “He says that our government is accepting OROP in principle”, said former Defence Minister A.K. Antony. “Some talks are still on”.

Ex-servicemen are demanding that pension payable to each rank should be the same irrespective of when they retire. It said that since no administration has deemed it appropriate to convey the actual reason for the interminable delays, there is a growing feeling in the rank and file that the senior armed forces leadership has not done enough to pursue their cause.

He insisted that the Prime Minister’s speech was high on rhetoric and very low on substance. Freaky. They protected us till yesterday.

The ex-servicemen have been sitting on a relay hunger strike for about two months now in Jantar Mantar. We are not asking for moon.

“The Prime Minister should give a date as to when he can bring in OROP”.

“We have the permission to hold the protest and have been protesting peacefully”. “After talking to people concerned, we are moving ahead”, he added. BJP spokesperson Aman Sinha has publicly argued that the government remains totally committed but is taking time because it is “putting in place a statutory framework for OROP”.

DCP New Delhi Vijay Singh told IANS: “Delhi Police has allowed the ex-servicemen to continue their protest for One Rank One Pension at Jantar Mantar“, refusing to say why the stand was changed. So, a Major General who retired in 1996 draws a lower pension than a Lieutenant Colonel who retired after 1996. Where is the comparison? The rest (CRPF, CISF, BSF, ITBP, SSB and the state police) are police battalion and comes under the Police Act. However, pay commissions, especially the sixth one have exaggerated the difference in salaries drawn by officers of the same rank depending on the year of service and this has led to the current impasse. He said that the bureaucracy is the main obstacle in the implementation of OROP.