The Narendra Modi government on Saturday announced the much-waited OROP scheme f

or defence veterans, but the ex-servicemen 'categorically' rejected all the prop
osals and said they will continue to protest.
Defence minister Manohar Parrikar announced the one rank, one pension scheme dur
ing a press conference assuring an equal pension to three million military perso
nnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of th
e date of retirement.
"The government has accepted OROP in true spirit without being constrained by pr
evious inaccurate estimates. Despite the huge financial burden, the government h
as taken the decision to implement OROP. The previous government had estimated a
cost of Rs 500 crore, however, the reality is that OROP would cost Rs. 8000 cro
re to the exchequer to implement and it will keep increasing," Parrikar told rep
orters in New Delhi.
The minister said the arrears would amount to anywhere between Rs 10,000 crore a
nd Rs 12,000 crore.
"OROP review will occur every five years and the scheme will be effective from J
uly 1, 2014, and the base year would be 2013," he added.
OROP | Ex-servicemen reject proposals, continue to protest
Parrikar said the government would constitute a single-member judicial committee
to look into various aspects of OROP, including inter-services matters, and it
will submit its report in six months.
OROP arrears will be paid in four half-yearly installments and all widows, inclu
ding war widows, will get arrears in lump-sum. Army personnel who have taken vol
untary retirement will not be covered under OROP.
He said an order on OROP will be issued by the ministry of defence very soon.
"PM Modi has fulfilled his commitment and implement OROP. I appeal to the vetera
ns now to continue the task of nation building," he said.
Agitating ex-servicemen, who had met Parrikar earlier in the day, rejected the g
overnment's announcements saying they are not fully satisfied.
"We only accept one point made by the government and that is the implementation
of OROP and categorically reject everything else," said Major General Satbir Sin
gh (retd), who heads the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement.
He said they cannot accept the government's proposal on one-man judicial panel t
hat will offer its report in six months saying the time period has to be thirty
days and demanded for a five-member panel of which three should be veterans, one
serving serviceman and an officer of their choice.
The veterans, who had been holding protests across the country for 82 days, also
rejected the government's proposal of a five-year review period of pensions say
ing they must be reviewed every year.
"A senior officer can never receive a smaller pension than a junior officer," sa
id Maj Gen Singh.
He said they need more clarification on whether premature retirement qualifies f
or the scheme, issue of averaging of pension and the government's decision to no
t give OROP benefits to those who have opted for voluntary retirement scheme (VR
S).

"At least 40% of our servicemen take VRS and if the government still doesn't acc
ept it then it is a big blow to the forces."
Maj Gen Singh said they will take a call on the hunger strike and inform the med
ia later in the evening.
"For now, the consensus we have arrived at is that the OROP agitation will conti
nue," he said.