More than 300 retired soldiers of various ranks returned their gallantry medals to President Pratibha Patil as a mark of protest against pension anomalies. The scenes of the ex-servicemen returning their medals won in combat and for their distinguished services were really painful.
The demand of the soldiers is that two soldiers retiring after equal length of service and from the same rank should get the same pension, irrespective of the date on which they retire. At present, their pension is different, depending on their date of retiring. Effectively, an army hawaldar who retired earlier, gets a pension that is less than that of a sepoy retiring later, though the hawaldar enjoys a higher rank. The government has rejected the ex-servicemen’s demand for “one-rank, one-pension” (OROP), citing the huge financial costs as the reason. But, financial factors should not come in the way of treating ‘as equal’ soldiers from the same rank.
IAS officers, MPs, judges and governors, however enjoy one-rank-one-pension. Then, why this disparity? The government should look at the equal pension demand of the retired veterans with seriousness and take urgent steps to sort out the differences in their pension money.
P Senthil Saravana Durai, Hyderabad
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