The Union Cabinet, on 23 December, approved the revision of the pension for family pensioners of the armed forces under One Rank One Pension (OROP). This welcome development surprisingly came a week after the government had asked the Supreme Court for extension till 15 March, 2023 for payment of arrears of the OROP scheme. It had first moved the Supreme Court in June and sought three months to compute and make payment.
The approved revision of the pension under OROP will be effective from 1 July, 2019. Armed forces personnel retired up to 30 June, 2019 will be covered under this revision, said the government. It is estimated that over 25.13 lakh armed forces pensioners and family members will be benefited.
The government said that the pension for those drawing above the average will be protected and be extended to family pensioners, including war widows and disabled pensioners. While the arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments, all the family pensioners, including those in receipt of special/liberalised family pension and Gallantry Award winners, shall be paid arrears in one instalment.
The estimated annual expenditure for the implementation of the revision has been calculated as approximately Rs 8,450 crore at 31 percent Dearness Relief (DR). The arrears with effect from 1 July, 2019 – 31 December, 2021 have been calculated as over Rs 19,316 crore based on DR at 17 percent for the period from 1 July, 2019 to 30 June, 2021 and at 31 percent for the period from 1 July, 2021 to 31 December, 2021. Also, arrears w.e.f 1 July, 2019 to 30 June, 2022 have been calculated as approximately Rs 23,638 crore as per the applicable dearness relief.
Earlier, on 7 November, 2015 the government had issued a policy letter for revision of the OROP pension with effect from 1 July, 2014. In the letter, it was mentioned that in future, the pension would be re-fixed every five years. Approximately, Rs 57,000 crore has been spent at Rs 7,123 crore per year in eight years in the implementation of OROP.
The ‘One Rank, One Pension’ rule means that retired soldiers of the same rank and length of service will receive the same pension, regardless of when they retire. Future enhancements in the rates of pension would be automatically passed on to the past pensioners. This implies bridging the gap between the rate of pension of current and past pensioners at periodic intervals. This equalisation of pension was to happen periodically every five years which meant that it should have been revised on 1 July, 2019.
There is no doubt that an examination of the tables, which has been released, shows a substantial increase in the basic pensions across all ranks from 1 Jan, 2016 to that of 1 July, 2021. Though the announcement has been delayed, it has brought relief to pensioners and closure to one of the major anomalies and is a welcome step.
The Principal Controller of Defence Accounts (PCDA) in consultation with the MoD Finance has worked out various tables which reflect the changes in pension for every rank depending on the length of service in great detail, after a great deal of deliberation and with due diligence. This equalisation will, no doubt, give a fillip in the pensions being received.
There will be some anomalies in specific cases that may emerge and these will need to be examined, addressed and resolved as per the existing rules and provisions. However, on the face of it, a Naik’s basic pension between 2016 and 2021 has gone up by approximately Rs 3500 and Colonels by approximately Rs 15,000. This represents an increase of 16 percent and 14 percent respectively.
While the equalisation was to take place once every five years, the tables show the same as having been carried out on 1 July, 2019 and 1 July, 2021 which means that the equalisation is being carried out once in two years, which is no doubt beneficial to the pensioners.
There is no doubt that this announcement is a welcome step and has resolved one of the most contentious issues pertaining to the OROP — the fixation of pay — and is a huge relief, particularly for those pensioners who felt that they had not been adequately equated.
The author is an Army veteran. The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent the stand of this publication.
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