OROP revisions give centre bragging rights for now
The latest revision of pensions for armed forces and family pensioners, retrospectively, from July 1, 2019 under the One Rank One Pension (OROP) policy is the ‘silver bullet’ that the government would be happy to bite for now. The revision of pensions helps the BJP-led government score some brownie points ahead of the next Parliamentary elections. It also allows it not to address the elephant in the room—the real issue of automatic revision of pensions under OROP.
With the latest announcement and the big numbers being thrown around—Rs 23,638 crore arrears payments for July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2022, and an average annual outgo of over Rs 8,000 crore—the government has, for now, projected itself as one generous to the veterans’ demands. After all, the nationalist BJP has always projected itself as a well-wisher of the armed forces. However, the government has deflected attention from the real issue that the veterans are fighting for. The OROP in its current form was implemented in 2015, where it was decided that the government would pay One Rank One Pension to the pensioners or their family members, and that the pensions would be revised every five years.
The veterans, however, want automatic revision and not a periodic one. They argue that the latter creates a gap between early and new retirees, and the gap gets taken care of only after the revision every five years. Earlier this year, the Supreme Court upheld the government’s policy on revision and asked it to carry it out from July 1, 2019. Therefore, the government’s latest decision complies with the Supreme Court order. But it does give the government some bragging rights ahead of Parliamentary elections in 2024.
Pensions have become the proverbial monkey on the government’s back. Opposition Congress has been using pensions as an issue against the government in the state elections with limited success. Its promise of returning to the old pension system—where a major part of the pension contribution comes from the government—has been gaining some traction. Though experts have warned the political parties promising the reinstatement of the old pension system of fiscal hara-kiri, they have found support from government employees. The government, finding itself getting cornered on the issue, needed to counter the opposition on this, and it found help in the One Rank One Pension revision.