Rs 500 crores? Rs 8,000 crores? Rs 20,000 crores? What is the real cost of OROP?



Now that the brouhaha over the One Rank One Pension scheme seems to be over, it is time to reflect on how a fundamental character of the justifiably proud Indian Armed Forces has been impacted forever. Everyone, it seems, has a view on the OROP and many interpretations of the real cost of rolling it out. However, for all the number-crunching and financial modelling by whiz kids on either side of the great divide, the real cost of rolling out this scheme has been missed completely by almost all stakeholders of this debate.



Like in most free and democratic nations, in India there is an unwritten social contract between the armed force and the citizens. A contract that unequivocally confirms unquestioned allegiance by the men and women in uniform to protect the nation, its ideas, its beliefs and its way of life, irrespective of the risks involved. In turn, the citizens affirm that they shall look after its soldiers, protecting and safeguarding their interests, and ensuring that the soldiers never feel the need to demand it. Unfortunately, after nearly seven decades after Independence, the sanctity of this contract has now been breached.



It is also important to recognise that there is a deep bond that binds military veterans with those who are still serving. This bond is nurtured carefully at the functional level of the military unit and through regimental reunions, thus ensuring that martial traditions are passed on from generation to generation. Any perceived injustice or disrespect to the military veteran community is deeply felt and absorbed by the serving soldiers.



Strong traditions



The men and women of the Indian Army, Navy and the Air Force are brought up in their units and regiments in the inviolable tradition of being scrupulously apolitical and focusing exclusively on discharging their commitment. The immense pride in being identified as the last bastion of the country is zealously nurtured and treated as a sacrosanct tradition. Discussions on religion or politics are scrupulously avoided in the officer’s messes, and the soldier’s barracks as well as the military’s social gatherings. There has always been a very low threshold of tolerance within the armed forces’ fraternity for personal leanings and beliefs, be it political or religious.



But all these long-held traditions and beliefs now stand threatened as military veterans took to the streets to protest against what they feel is the systematic and consistent devaluation of their standing in a free and democratic nation by successive political dispensations. Many in the military felt that the only way left for them to correct this imbalance and erosion of their standing was to publicly agitate for OROP.



Military veterans, ignored for decades and pushed to the proverbial wall felt that they were not being heard, let alone their demands being acted upon.



The veterans organised themselves and took to the streets to mobilise popular opinion, which has now become a critical point in their transformation into a political constituency, which was not lost on the National Democratic Alliance government. This mobilisation has also been actively supported by serving soldiers, who have made voluntary financial contributions, and actively followed up through incognito support. The Delhi Police action against the protesting veterans at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar led to the first strains of protests from serving soldiers. Despite the stated position of the agitating veterans, social networks have been abuzz with views and counterviews by serving soldiers, dangerously flirting with the political undertones of the cause.



Confusing announcement



The NDA government’s announcement of the OROP on Saturday created more discontent among military veterans as it was mired in confusion about the fate of those men and women who take premature retirement but are eligible for pensions. They form nearly 40% of the Indian Armed Forces and leaving them out of the OROP is bound to create more schisms.



Many veterans are now planning a massive rally and are tinkering with the idea of taking the fight to the upcoming electoral battlefield in Bihar to actively campaign against the government. Some political figures from the opposition have also attempted to make political capital out of this conundrum. But the stance taken by the military veterans runs the risk of deteriorating into a conflict along caste and regional lines. Such interplays are bound to have repercussions on the serving soldiers, causing tensions and strains entirely new and unchartered territory for India’s armed forces.



In the neighbourhood, the trials faced by Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanmar because their armed forces evolved political consciousness and ambitions decades ago are well documented. The slow but steady metamorphosis of the largely apolitical Indian military veterans into a political constituency and its impact on the serving soldiers has very serious consequences for India’s democratic moorings. This is the real cost of the OROP that the nation will have to bear. It is a cost so heavy that it can destroy the very idea of India.



Col Subin Balakrishnan (Retd) is a Special Forces officer who left the army in 2012.



