NEW DELHI: Social activist Anna Hazare on Tuesday came out in support of the long-pending ‘One Rank One Pension’ (OROP) scheme, terming it a “fair demand”. In a letter to the ex-servicemen community, Hazare said he supported their cause and that it was a “genuine and fair” demand which had been pending for long. Defence sources said the Ministry of Finance has returned the OROP file to the Ministry of Defence for some more fine-tuning.
The NDA Government has reiterated its commitment to OROP, a key promise made during the Lok Sabha polls. It has, however, not implemented it till now. Also, there has been no official word on why the scheme is getting delayed. Close to 22 lakh ex-servicemen and over six lakh war widows stand to be the immediate beneficiaries of the scheme, which envisages a uniform pension for the defence personnel, who retire in the same rank with the same length of service.