Pension Hike Steps Towards One Rank-One Pension'

Against the backdrop of criticism by retired military personnel, Defence Ministry today said the recent pension package of Rs 2,300 crore for the ex-servicemen was a step towards achieving the goal of one rank-one pension (OROP) in future.

"One rank-one pension is the goal and this package was a journey towards it. This is a continuous process and the recent announcement shows the sympathetic attitude of the government towards the retired personnel," Defence Ministry sources said here.

Ex-servicemen had expressed their unhappiness with the pension hike announced by the government on Monday, saying it amounted to "wrong and deceitful" treatment of their long- pending 'one rank-one pension' demand and vowed to continue struggle for their rights.

The sources said this was the third time that the government has hiked the pension of the retired defence forces since the award of Sixth Central Pay Commission in 2008.

The exact calculation of the amount of money by which the retired personnel would benefit is expected to be done within next two days, they said.

The sources said after the recent announcements, the pension of jawans will increase by Rs 550 to 800 whereas the pension of officers would register a hike between Rs 570 to Rs 3750.

The hike in pension of personnel below office rank (PBOR) will be between 9.7 to 13 per cent whereas for officers it would be between 10 to 28 per cent.

They said a total of 13 lakh jawans would benefit from the government's announcements at a cost of Rs 1,400 crore per annum. The government announced the decision to address the pensionary issues of ex-servicemen on Monday.

"The gap in pension of pre-and post-January 2006 retiree jawans will be bridged by determining the pension of pre- January 2006 pensioners on basis of notional maximum for ranks and groups across three Services as in case of post-January 2006 retirees," it had said.

Source:news.outlookindia.com