One Rank-One Pension : Govt. sets up panel

With a large number of ex-servicemen vowing to vote for BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, the UPA government on Monday set up a high-level committee under Cabinet Secretary K M Chandrasekhar to consider their 'One Rank-One Pension' (OROP) demand and reduce the gap in pensionary benefits of the 1.5-million-strong armed forces.

The Defence Ministry also set up another committee under Secretary (defence finance) Indu Liberhan to sort out anomalies in the implementation of orders relating to armed forces pensioners.

"The government has set up a high-level committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary to reduce the gap in pensionary benefits to jawans and officers, and bring it as close to 'one rank-one pension' as possible," a source said here.

The other members of the high-level committee would be the Defence Secretary Vijay Singh, Home Secretary Madhukar Gupta, Secretary Personnel Rahul Sarin, Secretary Expenditure Sushma Nath and Secretary Ex-Servicemen Welfare S M Acharya, sources said.

The ex-servicemen organisations have been pressing for the long-pending demand for OROP and they did so during the Sixth Pay Commission, too. However, the Defence Ministry has held to its view that it would be difficult for it to accept this demand.

Source : The Hindu.