OROP : Was Mediator on OROP, But Gave up after 48 hours: Gen VP Malik

SOURCE:
http://www.msn.com/en-in/news/national/was-mediator-on-orop-but-gave-up-after-48-hours-gen-vp-malik/ar-BBlK4zK




                                                  HIDUSTAN TIMES

Was Mediator on OROP, But Gave up after 48 hours: Gen VP Malik

 

General (retd) VP Malik, India's army chief during the Kargil victory, revealed on Friday that he acted as mediator between military veterans and the Narendra Modi government on One Rank One Pension (OROP)issue but gave up "within 48 hours".

 

 

Gen Malik told the Hindustan Times that he refused to continue as mediator because of the “big gap between both sides on the issue”.

 

 

“I can only say that, yes, I went and tried to resolve the matter because both sides accepted it,” he said.

 

 

Asked about his views on the implementation of OROP, Gen Malik said: “It has been going on. The definition of OROP has been accepted earlier. The point is whether whatever was defined will be implemented. I will not go into more details. Let us see if the Prime Minister says something tomorrow (in his Independence Day speech).”

 

 

© Provided by Hindustan Times

 

 

 

General Malik led India to victory in the war over Kargil in 1999 when the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee was in power at the Centre.

 

 

Ex-servicemen have been pressing for uniform pension for defence personnel who retire in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.

 

 

Close to 22 lakh ex-servicemen and over six lakh war widows stand to be immediate beneficiaries of the scheme. Currently, the pension for ex-servicemen is based on the pay commission recommendations of the time when they had retired.

 

 

The main dispute between the military veterans and the government is over which year's scales should be taken as the base for OROP -- the government wants to take the 2011 rates, while the veterans want those of 2014.

 

 

Both sides also disagree over the cutoff date  ( ????!!!! WHAT IS THIS CUTOFF DATE)for implementation of OROP, which would decide the number of personnel coming under its purview. 

 

 

When contacted about his stand on OROP, another former army chief, General (retd) JJ Singh said, “All I can say is that the armed forces are a disciplined force and they have been obedient and loyal. What veterans have been demanding is fair and just.”

 

 

“We are hopeful and confident that the prime minister will honour his word and address their just demand,” said Gen Singh, who was the army chief from 2005 to 2007 before he became the governor of Arunachal Pradesh till 2013.

 

The Modi government has been maintaining that it is committed to OROP, a key promise made during the Lok Sabha elections.

 

 

 

                                                          NDTV

 

                                           

 

File picture of General (retd) VP Malik.

 

 

New Delhi:  General VP Malik, the Army Chief, who led India to victory during the Kargil War, was the Prime Minister's personal choice for mediating back-channel talks between the government and military veterans who are leading the protests for One Rank One Pension or OROP.

They say the pension for retired army officers and soldiers must be at par with what those of similar rank get now. Currently, there is a huge disparity, which means a junior officer who completes service now is entitled to a far heftier sum than someone several ranks senior, who retired earlier.

Highly-placed sources have confirmed to NDTV that General Malik, who now lives in Chandigarh, made a special trip to Delhi to serve as the liaison between the government and the soldiers community, which has been agitating for OROP for many years, only to be fobbed off by first the Congress-led UPA and now the year-old BJP government. Sources say General Malik was initially reluctant to be drawn into the negotiations, but was prevailed upon by the Prime Minister's Office and senior retired Generals.

The secret talks hit a wall within 48 hours. General Malik, according to sources, threw his hands up and extricated himself from the role of mediator because the gap between the two sides was far too wide. The crux of the disagreement lies in which pension scales should be applied in compensating soldiers - the rates of 2011, which the government wants, or those of 2014, which are naturally higher, and the choice of the military community.
There is also vast disagreement between the two sides over the date of commencement of One Rank One Pension, which would decide which officers are entitled retroactively to benefits.

According to sources, General Malik, who declined to be interviewed for this story, left Delhi in two days, unable to create a consensus. Sources say the Ministry of Defence has already issued letters saying OROP would be based on pension scales from 2014, and any rollback in this position would be unpalatable to protesting veterans. Sources also confirm that the veterans offered a compromise -they said widows of soldiers could be compensated in cash, while those of JCOs and officers could be compensated in bonds. However, the talks could not reach any resolution.

Accepting the soldiers' demands on OROP and implementing the policy as mandated by the Supreme Court would cost the government 12,000 crores - 4,000 more than what's currently estimated. Sources say the difference could be unilaterally sanctioned by the PM, though it's unlikely that he will spell out the details in his Independence Day speech tomorrow