OROP : OPEN LETTER TO THE FIFTH COLUMN POWER GRABBERS OF TROIKA OF DESH DROHIS

Anil Kaul

 Ghaziabad

 

 

This is an open letter written to what has emerged as a troika of axis powers inimical to the interests of the Armed Forces.
On the first point of the troika is the honourable finance minister, Mr. Arun Jaitley, who is ably supported in conveying various incorrect state of procedures and issues by the other two points of the troika - Mr. Rajat Sharma (from the electronic media) and the management of The Times of India (from the print media).

 I qualify my statement as given above with reference to a statement given by the Finance Minister with regard to OROP two days ago followed by two/three articles in The Times of India, one as late as this morning and the repeated viewing by the India TV channel of as supposed rift between the officers on one hand and JCOs and Other Ranks on the other hand.

 A few figures would be in order

 a) Total No. of Ex-servicemen: 26 Lakhs pan India
b) Total No. of widows: 6 Lakhs pan India

 Out of this, beneficiaries of OROP
i) JCOs/ ORs/ Widows: 86%
ii) Officers: 14%
iii) Total Payout:
Officers: 2200 Cr (Approx)
JCOs/ORs/Widows: 6200 Cr (Approx)

 Having said that, I think we would put to rest issues raised both by TOI and India TV as to who is going to benefit more.

 Now, let us point our finger at the fountainhead of all controversy, Mr. Arun Jaitley who has had the temerity of questioning the very definition of OROP as accepted by parliaments thrice over and pulled up by the Supreme Court of India.

It would be interesting to note that the Defence Ministry which is the nodal point for all matters relating to the Defence Forces has completed all the calculations and permutations to the last detail and submitted to the Finance Ministry as far back as 17th March this year. 

 It is, therefore, quite surprising that five months down the line, the finance ministry has not shown the ability to give the All Clear to the PMO for implementation. 

 What is further shocking is the kind of excuses and issues being brought up from time to time to somehow derail any modicum of talk or understanding between stakeholders that could have resulted in a resolution by now. 

 I would hasten to add that this particular part of my letter has been prepared by one of the most learned senior officers of the Indian Air Force who is an authority on OROP.

 

 It is reliably learnt that a certain meeting taken by the Defence Minister where representatives of Service HQ as well as members of the governing/executive committee of ESM organizations were present, the following was made clear and obvious and approved by the Defence Minister: -

 1. There isn’t an annual increment of pension because increment is for every additional year of service rendered to the Nation either as Services personnel or as a civilian Govt employee.

 Elucidation A: - Increments are paid for every subsequent year in service i.e pay of a serving personnel A with 25 years’ service will be 3% lesser than the pay of a serving personnel B with 26 years of service.

 Elucidation B: - Pension is paid on the basis of the last pay drawn for the number of years of service rendered. In the above example, A will get a pension for 25 years of service and B will get a pension for 26 years of service. An increment will mean that A will get the pension of B, who has rendered 26 years of service and pension of B will have to be incremented and become pension for 27 years of service.

 The Origin of the 3% annual increment in pensions

 2. However from a summary of the minutes of the first meeting it is well worth noting that it appears that the seeds of the mischief of an increment were sown in the incorrect recording of minutes of this meeting compiled by O/o CGDA in the following manner: -

 2.1 At Para 4 (c) of the minutes, O/o CGDA recorded the minutes as follows: -

 As future enhancements have to be automatically passed on to the pensioners,Services proposal for incremental increase in pension on 1st July every year shall be considered.

 2.2. The mischief that is now being projected in the media and misquotes by some leaders of ESM was corrected by Rear Admiral P Joshi, Chairman PARC & Naval Pay Commission Cell when he deleted the above and inserted and initialed in the margin in his own handwriting before he signed the minutes of the JWG: -

 As future enhancements have to be automatically passed on to the pensioners, Service proposal for annual revision of OROP tables should be considered.

 3. There would be an annual review in OROP. This is to remove the following anomalies: -

 3.1. If C retires in a certain rank with 20 years service on 30 June of that year will draw less than D who retires with 20 years of service on 31st July of the same year because D gets the benefit of 3% increment on 1st July.

 3.2. Bunching effect of 4 years in 4th CPC, 3 years in 5th CPC and 2 years in 6th CPC

 3.3. Implementation of AVSC Phase I w.e.f 16th December 2004. It has resulted in officers being promoted to say Select rank of Lt Col in the 18th but those after 16thDecember 2004 being promoted in the 14th year.


 4. Perusal of the modified/enhanced parity tables indicate a pension of Rs 7065 for a Sepoy in the 20 to 27 years service bracket and become Rs 7175 if the Sepoy served 27.5 years or more. Similar cap will occur for all personnel within a time frame of 5 years. Therefore, alarm bells rung by vitiated persons are based on lack of information or mala-fide misunderstanding the issue of OROP

 

 5. It has been calculated and re validated with data for the period of 5 years and the financial effect is estimated to be 0.85% or Rs 185 crore.

 6. The first annual review was scheduled to take place on 1st Jul 2015 and the next annual review would take place on 1st January 2016, when the recommendations of the 7th CPC kick in. Thereafter all annual reviews would be effective from 1st January of that year.

 7. It is understood that the 7th CPC is very clear about the differences between Civilian pension and Military pension. Due to the Civilian Govt employees serving till the age of 60 years, it has been termed mature pension. Because Services personnel retire at younger ages, Military pension has been termed “aborted” pension, deserving a different method of being dealt with.
 

 8. It is also understood that the ESM present at the meeting (Lt Gen Balbir Singh, Maj Gen Satbir Singh, Brig Katara, Gp Capt Gandhi etc) had vouched for the DGL prepared for OROP and the arguments in favour of matters cited in above paragraphs.

 9. I reproduce gist of the Resolution 1/I/S/2008 which approved the recommendations of the 6th CPC with certain modifications: -

 9.1. Para 1, Note 1: The edge presently accorded to Indian Administrative Service and Indian Foreign Service at three grades STS, JAG and SG will continue in the form of two additional increments @ 3% each will be adjusted in the pay band(emphasis supplied).

 

 Interpretation: The 3% increments are for IAS & Indian Foreign Service for the 3 grades and it will be absorbed in the Pay Bands of the 6th CPC. There isn’t anything for Armed Forces like the Lt Gen (retd) believes.

 

 9.2. Annex I (VII) – Annual increment states 3% across the board except for high performers who will get 4% increments in certain grades.

 

 9.3. SAI (and SNI/SAFI) No. 1 and 2/S/2008 also do not (Repeat) do not contain anymention of two increments of 3%.

 10. Therefore, the 3% annual increase quoted is nothing but a red herring. Is that why we have ESM on fast unto death believing that 3% increment has to be part of OROP?
 

 Now some data

 11. Up to the rank of Major (and equivalents) who are in service will have lower pay in Apr 2014 than say Apr 2007 effect of AVSC which was effective from 16 Dec 2004 .

 

 12. Similarly, in higher ranks there is no guarantee that a Col with 28 years service in Apr 2014 will draw a lower pay and pension than a Col in the 28th year completed in Apr 2015 or Apr 2016, simply due to the fact of higher fixation to 2014 retiree in January 2006. In fact most cells in the DGL tables will not change every year.


13. Conclusion:
The above tables clearly show that in steady state, pension will not be revised every year.

 

 Majors/Lt Colonels/Colonels promoted earlier will draw the same pay and pension as the one promoted after him.

 Once pension is reset on 1.4.2014 thereafter no change will take place except on the implementation of the recommendations of the 7th CPC.

 For ORs and JCOs (retd) readers – tables are being prepared and will be posted ASAP. Please understand that there are factors such as Group X, Y and the erstwhile Z as well as maximum benefit etc and many JCOs having reached the top of the table on 17 Jan 2013.

 

 14. I hope clear the air and reduce the fog of mistrust and, consequent but inadvertent misinformation & misunderstanding of the red herring of 3% (annual) increment in pensions.

 

 Having belied the much touted assertions of past pay-outs, I now come to the second part which relates to the Officers-JCOs-ORs relationship. 

 The Indian Armed Forces have a rock-steady relationship among the various ranks, differences of opinions notwithstanding. A platoon is led by one officer and has 35 JOCOs/ORs. Similarly, a company has a ratio of 2:118 and a Regt/Battalion 25:1000. For the uninitiated, it is these entities who, working cohesively, achieve the results that this nation demands of them.

The Chetwoodian motto is followed in letter and spirit even after retirement. 

 Therefore, OROP, as explained above is mainly correcting a portion of the perceived wrong done to all our men in the last 67 years. It may be noted by all readers that baring a motley crowd of 12 JCO/OR, sitting on a platform separately from that of the UFESM, does not constitute a rift in such a strong bond. As you may not have noticed, Mr. Rajat Sharma and the management of TOI, the OROP agitation is running across 60-70 cities pan India with a happy mix of Officers, JCOs and Other Ranks affiliated to UFESM. 

 I hope this clears the air and you will stop issuing Press Releases and statements that cause harm to those who have made it their business to prevent you from coming to any harm.
Your initial ignorance of the agitation was better than this half-baked information being put out.

 Col. Anil Kaul, VrC
Media Advisor
UFESM