One Rank One Pension: A reality on May 26th?

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, May 18: On May 26 2015, the much awaited One Rank One Pension is likely to be announced by the government. The OROP which has been much awaited by nearly 25 lakh ex-servicemen is set to be announced by May 26th with a corpus of around Rs 8,500 crore.

Read more: Pros and cons of One Rank One Pension scheme

Although the Defence Ministry had cleared OROP several months back there were several issues which cropped up leading to the delay in the final announcement.

While in principle the OROP had been cleared by the government, there were certain issues that had cropped up and it was the finance ministry which had to take the final call to clear the corpus.

One year anniversary:

The announcement is likely to be made on May 26th if all goes well. The NDA has decided that it would make this all important announcement which would bring much deserved relief to 25 lakh ex-servicemen in the country.

The government which has cleared the proposal and also set aside the corpus for the same will wait for Prime Minister Narendra Modi to return to India from his three nation visit. The Prime Minister himself is likely to make this grand announcement on May 26.

A few ex-servicemen that Oneindia spoke with say that they are happy but are apprehensive as well. We have seen such assurances being made several times over the past year, but for some reason it has never taken shape. While we are happy and hopeful, we will comment only when the official and final announcement has been made, they also point out.

What is One Rank One Pension?

One Rank One Pension or OROP is basically a uniform payment of pension to those personnel who retire in the same rank with the same years of service. This is irrespective of the date of retirement. The OROP aims at bringing about a parity.

The OROP was classified under a separate category taking into consideration the hardships that are faced by the military personnel.

The military personnel normally retire at a younger age face a lot of hardships due to the kind of postings and assignments that they get. Hence it was decided that their pension cannot be equated with the other government officials who have relatively easier jobs.

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