One Rank One Pension not yet Sanctioned for Armed Forces
The armed forces of India have a long legacy that trace their history to days of the Raj. During the colonial period, the British rulers built up a formidable fighting machine that saw action in two world wars and played a significant role in the ultimate victory of the Allies. The army was a elitist force during the days of the Raj and was well looked after in terms of pay and pension.
After 1947, when India gained freedom from British rule the new dispensation led by Nehru were not aware of the geo-political importance of the armed forces and began a policy of neglect.This had disasterous consequences as India became a second rate power to China and also failed to be the dominant power in Asia. This neglect of the armed forces resulted in erosion of pay,pension and privileges of the soldiers. The result was that army personnel were downgraded in order of protocol and also their pay and pensions were greatly reduced. It was forgotton that armed forces personnel retire at a early age and need special pensionary benefits.
The erosion of pensions had a deleterious effect as soldiers who retired earlier recieved much smaller pension than those retiring later as there was no mechanism in place to bring pensions of older soldiers at par with the new retirees. This was the genesis of one rank one pension (OROP) demand. The demand surfaced nearly 2 decades back, but political party's did not react to it. Most political leaders failed to realise that the army was the biggest stake holder in the unity of India and OROP was dismissed with a shrug.
The UPA under Man Mohan Singh sat on the demand for 10 years and finally when elections were due in 2014, belatedly approved OROP, but made no provision for it in the budget. The BJP and Narendra Modi, eyeing the massive vote bank of ex-servicemen latched on to it. Narendra Modi started his election campaign in an rally at Rewari of ex- servicemen and ptomised OROP. The BJP also included it in their election manifesto.
The 2014 election saw the BJP romp home with a majority.. It was expected the BJP would honor its poll promise, but nearly 10 months down the line OROP is not saunctioned. The 2015 budget does not make any mention of OROP, though the finance minister duly announced that OROP will be approved soon.
The armed forces are left in the lurch and their is intense dis -satisfaction all around. One does not know what the BJP plans to do. But the government must realize that a nation that does not look after its soldiers can never be a great power.
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