Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley had told IESM team that the BJP’s poll promises to soldiers were just electioneering tactics and ‘never meant to be honoured.’

• Any Questions or Clarifications you need?

• A business man once said he works as hard as the Army men.

• Let us see if we get an answer in the next slide.

• Thank you for your time Ladies and Gentlemen.

• If you support us the veterans not for our sake but for the sake of the security of the country please give a missed call on

+917304400500

The Simple Truth about One Rank One Pension (OROP)

Do 125 crore Indians know

OROP really “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”

Frequently asked Questions

• Is the demand about Money?NoNo

The fight for equal pensions is at its heart a proxy battle for what we see as restoring our lost `izzat', for getting what we see as ourrightful place in the civil-military balance wherepolitical control of the military has translatedinto bureaucratic control.We are not begging for money we are seeking ourright and rightful position in society and वचन पू�र्ती�

• Do Foreign countries have OROPYes UK has it.So does Canada where the plan includes:

1.$20 million to create two new veterans' care centres.

2.$100 million annually to expand support for families of veterans, including education and counseling.

3.$25 million to expand the Permanent Impairment Allowance for the most seriously wounded.

4.$40 million to increase the Earnings Loss Benefit from 75 per cent to 90 per cent of a soldier's pre-release salary.

5.Increase the veteran survivor's pension amount to 70 per cent from 50 per cent.India reduced to 50% in1973

6.Double funding to the Last Post Fund for the burial of veterans".

Why some JCO/Or are saying the demand is officer centric?

• This is a myth being spread by people to split the veterans community.

• Some JCO /OR are raising demands that are not related to OROP .The demands may be valid but are being mixed up with OROP at behest of some to delay the implementation.

• Let us look at the table based on known DGL that shows who will gain how much and the myth will be exposed purely from OROP point of view .

Is the complexity of OROP the only factor holding up the issue?

In fact there is no complexity in OROP It is a myth being created by those who wish to sabotage the BJP promise of OROP by publishing planted stories 1.Stating others will ask for it. None can as the terms of service condition are not same. I wonder if you will accept a defence force largely made up of oldies who would not make up his mind as to if he should fire his rifle or use it as a walking stick.2.The one time amount required is high .The figure given is 22000 cr. Fully proved to be wrong by RM himself.3.Will be referred to 7 PC. Not a part of 7 CPC Charter.4.There can be different definitions. There is only one definition approved by parliament.5.The annual increment of .85% will increase the annual load on budget. Let us look at this aspect with care in the next slide.

Is OROP imminently affordable?

• It must be clarified that the current defence pension expenditure of Rs 54,500 crores (2015-16) also includes defence civilians who approximately number 400,000.

• The perceived exponential rise in pension bill needs to be put in the correct perspective. The figure would rise in absolute numbers of course but when viewed as a percentage of the nation’s GDP, the expenditure on defence pension shows an overall declining trend as the table below will illustrate:

The defence pensions as a percentage of GDP thus shows a clear long term declining trend despite an absolute rise in numbers (the spike in 2009-10 was due to payment of arrears for years 2006, 2007 and 2008 after the award of the 6th pay commission).

Now why does the military have higher number of pensioners as compared to their civilian counterparts?

• Simple. • We need a young army and therefore soldiers are

recruited young and retired early (most of them between 34-37 years). On the contrary, all non-military government employees (including jawan of the Central Armed Police Forces—CAPFs) have the luxury of serving till the age of 60. The ratio of pensioners to serving personnel in the military is thus 1.7:1 as against 0.56:1 among the civilians. But that’s the price the nation needs to pay for maintaining a standing army.

• Had the long-standing recommendations for lateral absorption of this vast, disciplined and ready made pool of manpower in various non-military organisations been implemented, perhaps the pension bill could have been reduced but that has not happened because of lack of political will and bureaucratic resistance.

• There is one more reason why the military pension bill will further reduce in terms of percentage of the GDP:

• All civilians in defence ministry who joined service on or after 1 January 2004, have now come under the ambit of the contributory National Pension Scheme (NPS).

• Soldiers unfortunately cannot be brought under the ambit of the NPS because of their short service span. The benefit of NPS, it should be noted, accrues over a long span of time (30 years or more) deriving the benefit from the power of compounding the accrued amount!

What is the share of soldiers in defence pension bill?

This means that the per head pension for veterans is less than the Defence Civilians

How pension Bill will actually decline?Experts say another way to comprehend the decliningfinancial implication of annual review is to draw anAn analogy from the ‘Damping Out’ of a Sinusoidal Wave.  Unless there is an external impulse, thesinusoidal wave gets Damped out.  Similarly, as Bunching Effect and other anomalies exitThe system of pay and pensions, with no externalimpulse (i.e, change in terms and conditions of service),the additional Financial implications of annual review of OROP willcontinuously reduce and in steady state will be almostzero.   It was actually mathematically computed as 0.85 % usingCGDA (Comptroller General, Defence Accounts) data forJCOs/OR

CSD and veterans

• As per laid down policy, 50% of the total profits earned by CSD is being deposited into Consolidated Fund of India (CFI).

• The remaining 50% is distributed to various beneficiaries as determined by the Competent Authority.

• As per policy in vogue, after deduction of regular and adhoc allocations of 4.91 % of this amount, the balance is allocated to Army, Air Force, and Navy in the ratio of 85:10:5.

• The CSD facility is now also available to all Defence Civilians paid out of defence estimates.

What more on CSD

• A RTI request is being filed to obtain information on the share of CSD profits given by the Competent Authority to the Defence Civilians Medical Aid Fund (DCMAF) and the expenditure incurred in FY 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15.

• Similarly, a RTI request is being filed to obtain information on the share of CSD profits given to the   Sanskriti School run by wives of bureaucrats and the expenditure incurred in FY 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15. 

• Finally, a RTI request is being filed to obtain information on the share of CSD profits used for Chai pani within the MoD, as well as generous allowance given to bureaucrats for the purpose, that is not given to Service Officers under the Incidental and Miscellaneous head(s) and the expenditure incurred in FY 2012-13, 2013-14, and 2014-15.

Defence Minister has stated that OROP will be implemented soon. So, why is IESM protesting for non implementation of OROP? Dont' you trust the PM? RM?

• We have high hopes and regard for our PM. We believe him. It is the FM we are skeptical about.

• The RM has been changing his statements on date of issue of letter latest being now after post Bihar elections earlier being as soon as Navaratri starts.

• The latest reading of an announcement by RM on 05 Sep 2015 has the following flaws

Ser Parameter Justified OROP right as projected by Ex Service Men

Agreed by Govt & to be Notified Soon

i        

Periodicity of Equalization of pension

Yearly as per approved definition of OROP

Once in 5 years (This is not OROP). So, Govt has NOT GIVEN OROP

ii       

Pension re-fixing

Grant highest of scale of rank and years the service

Average of the pay scale of Min & Max

iii      

Base year Financial Year 2013-14 Calender year 2013

iv      

Payment of arrears with effect from

01 Apr 2014 01 Jul 2014

v       

Commission  to resolve  anomalies

Not needed, why have anomalies? If appointed, must have 5 members: Judge - 1, ESM - 3, MOD - 1)

Only one member

vi      

Commission to submit report in

One month Six months

vii     

Applicability of OROP

All Ex Service Men and Widows

No OROP for ESM who proceeded on premature retirement (Got calls this VRS. Terribly ignorant Govt does not even know that there is no VRS in Armed Forces. )

• Can we trust this Government?

Few other Discriminations Type of Allowance Civilian Employee Faujis

Disabled Employees(a)Protection of Service(b)Pay and Allowances(c)Pension(d) Right to life of dignity of self and family

Govt has to retain them till 60 yrs under Disability ActFull protection under Section 47 of the Act. Will not be discharged on account of disability. Full pay and allowances admissible till the age of 60 even if unable to attend any official duty. Can even be kept on supernumerary post and paid all pay and allowances.Entitled to full service length till superannuation and pension thereafter.Full pay and pension and complete Government protection/cover with entitled facilities Admissible to dependents

Invalided (Thrown) out of service immediately Defence Forces exempted from operation of Section 47. Hence no protection of employment available in case of disability.Employee can be discharged on account of disability.Nil AdmissibleNil Admissible Nil. No facilities or protection for self and dependents

Increase in Pension of highest rank employee from 1973 to 2006

108 timesHighest Civilian Functionary Pension1973 - Rs 416.50/-pm2006 - Rs 45000/-pm

45 timesHighest Def Rank Pension 1973 - Rs 1000/-pm 2006 - Rs 45000/-pm

Period of Service Upto60 years of age 85% compulsorily retired between 35 -37 years age.12-13% compulsorily retired between 40-54 years age

Career Progression Three Promotions at 10,20,30 years of service

Three promotion at 8, 16, 24 years of service.85% compulsorily retired at 15-17 years’ service; thereby denied 3rd career progression

Officer’s Promotion opportunities

100% Joint Secy at 16-18 years’ Service100% Addl Secy at 32 years’ Service

1% Maj Gen at 32-33 years of service.3% Lt Gen 33-35years

Non-functional Upgradtion (NFU)

• JS Pay at approx22 yrs.• Addl Secy Pay at 32yrs

Nil

Support of Heath Care • Per member approx Rs 10000/-

Per member approx Rs 10000/-

7 reasons why we are unhappy with present format of OROP as announced by RM on 05 Sep 2015

1. Base Year: This was agreed to as FY 2103-14 now changed to calendar year 2013.This will completely ruin definition of OROP by creating a divide between past and present pensioners.

2. Date of Implementation: Agreed to as 01.04.2014 and now pushed to 01.07.2014 .Loss to Veterans 2100 cr.

3. Annual Rationalization: Agreed and recommended but now stated as once in Five years. This will create one rank five pensions

4. One man Judicial Commission: Not accepted we want 3 ESM one serving and one from choice of RM to be headed by a Judge.

# These four points discussed till 1130 hrs on 05 Sep 2015 i.e 2 and half hours before announcement.

Surprises in announcement1. Likely hood of OROP being referred to 7 CPC. How can this

be since parliament has accepted the concept and definition.

2. Fixation of pension as mean of the salary for Calendar year :This means no top of scale fixation. Will kill the very definition of OROP

3. PMR/VRS: This is the bombshell. There is not concept of VRS and PMR is not the same as VRS.VRS I need not explain.PMR defer from VRS in that it is the requirement of the employer to keep the forces young.PMR is at the discretion of the services and it implies pension which is a deferred wage. This denial of OROP will be against the law of land and we will seek legal remedy if required.

Who are getting OROP already?

Top five ranks in the army comprise only 10%of the officer strength. Contrast this with thecivil services where entire batches becomeJoint Secretaries. Thus with majority entitledto NFFU they are getting OROP.

Why apprehensions?From the Finance Minister statement in the Economic Times of 05 May 2015,we know that “Tax exemptions and incentives to corporate have resulted in a revenue impact of Rs 62,398.6 cr. to the exchequer in 2014-15, 8 per cent higher than the previous fiscal. In a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha , Finance Minister Arun Jetly said the details of revenue impact on central taxes due to various concessions and exemptions have been detailed in the Budget document for 2015-16” but the same Minister is baulking at giving Rs 8300 crores as estimated by the Defence Minister for OROP.   So it is the FM with his Congress mind set who is the stumbling block in implementation of OROP and his intentions were clear from the meager allocation in his budgets knowing fully well the actual financial implications.How do we trust when the PM says he has four more years to implement OROP? Is he buying time to once again fool the ESM till next elections?

Deliberations on Costs

• Why only the cost of the bureaucracy and the armed forces? We also need to look at the costs we incur as a democracy itself – i.e. what we pay our legislators. Are we paying them for frittering away an entire session? Are we paying them for attendance that in a college would disqualify a student from writing the exams? What are their pension rules? How does their wealth multiply 500% in five years? It is time that these questions are asked.

• We are paying for sponsored riots and fracturing of society.

• We always see the armed forces being called out when the others created a snafu. Calling the army “to assist the civil services” means the political leadership, civil service and the police have miserably failed. If the armed forces are the force of last resort, then surely they must rank the highest in the salary structure.

• There is talk that the police, Para military forces etc also doing an equally risky job. Is it? Then let the BSF guard the border, let the police tackle naxalites and insurgents and terrorists. The army will withdraw to the barracks and emerge when an official war is declared. Finally repeal AFSPA. Do the powers that be have the courage for all this?

• Gentlemen the costs of good security are high and the nation must pay so that they have the liberty to speak as irresponsibly as possible in TV and print media and if we want to remain a democracy. Strong democracy means a strong armed force.

National Security at Risk

• Let me be very candid in stating the way that the OROP issue has been handled is a national disaster which will have a significant effect on National security in the years to come.

• If as reported the FM did actually say that he will have to divert funds from National Disaster Fund then he was very much on target.