Friends I had gone to Jantar Mantar today in connection with the Veteran's demand for OROP. I am sharing what I have learnt from members of the Veterans (ESM) Governing Council.
AN UPDATE ON OROP FROM JANTAR MANTAR
Govt Action/Stand
1. Modi has refused to meet Veterans despite an earlier assurance to do so if they were not satisfied by their meeting with the RM & the Fin Min.
2. He is now regretting his commitment to the Veterans cause Jaitley (AJ) & his Babus have convinced him that giving OROP shall generate similar demands from Para Military & Police.
3. AJ is thus trying to shift the OROP to the 7th Pay Commission that becomes due in Feb 2016. The OROP shall thus get delayed for another 10 years & involve a fresh round of sparring between the GoI & the Veterans.
4. AJ is accordingly working on a new “Model” wherein the meaning of OROP is being redefined. He knows the Veterans shall reject it outright as it is a highly truncated one and is being called as “Peanuts” or “Adding Insult to injury” by Veterans.
5. Modi is however keen to announce this new “Model” just before the Bihar elections so that he can “claim” to having honoured his commitment to Veterans.
Veterans Stand/Action
6. The Veterans have told the GoI that two Parliaments have already defined what OROP implies. OROP has to be therefore paid as per existing definition & no new definition in any form is therefore acceptable.
7. The UPA-2 Govt had “settled” some anomalies of the 4th & 5th Pay Commissions in Sep 2012. These were purportedly from 01 Jan 1986 to 01 Jan 2006. However the arrears paid in Sep 2012 were from 01 Jan 2009 to Sep 2012 and not 01 Jan 2006 when the dues became entitled to Veterans. In short 3 years were conveniently “skipped”/missed out”.
8. It was contested in the Supreme Court (SC) by the Veterans which ruled that the period taken into account by the GoI was arbitrary & that Veterans were entitled to the arrears from 01 Jan 2006 & not 01 Jan 2009. It then ordered the GoI to disburse the arrears of the previous 3 years also to the Veterans. The GoI (Cong/BJP) has not done so despite claiming to have made provisions for it in their budgets.
9. AJ is however acting smart & is planning to disburse arrears ONLY from 01 Apr 2014 to date & that too on a modified model. In doing so he is conveniently overlooking the 3 years from 01 Jan 2006 to 01 Jan 2009 as well as 1.5 years from 01 Oct 2012 to 31 Mar 2014. In short denying Veterans their dues of 4.5 years or 54 months.
10. The Veterans are continuing their relay-hunger strike in the blistering heat of Delhi summer.
They have called for all Veterans to meet on 22 Jun to decide on their next course of action.
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