Protesters Demanding One Rank One Pension Evicted From Delhi’s Jantar Mantar

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Aug 14, 2015:  In a drive to secure and sanitise the capital ahead of Independence Day, the police this morning began evicting various groups on protest at Jantar Mantar, the venue designated for protests in the heart of Delhi.

The New Delhi Municipal Corporation is also part of the operation. Its officials said they remove tents pitched in the area every year to clean and prep it for Independence Day.

Among those sitting on protest at Jantar Mantar are a group of retired servicemen demanding the implementation of "One Rank, One Pension" or OROP. They have not been evicted yet, but were seen arguing with the police and municipal teams conducting the clean-up.

Ahead of August 15, a group of retired military chiefs wrote to President Pranab Mukherjee, asking him to "urgently intervene" in the matter, warning that denying it will "severely damage the officer-jawan relationship."

Alleging lack of political will, the open letter urges the President to intervene as the Supreme Commander of the forces.

"Soldiers, like flags and anthems, are emblematic of a nation’s pride and honor. The very fact that the nation’s military veterans have had to take resort to agitational methods and that the government could tolerate their denigration or humiliation has come as a rude shock to all of us, " says the letter, signed by former army chief General SF Rodrigues, and former navy chiefs, Admirals L Ramdas, Arun Prakash and Sureesh Mehta.

In his Independence Day speech from the historic Red Fort tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to announce the big step, which will grant retired armed forces personnel pension parity with officers and jawans of the same rank retiring now.

Currently, their pension is based on the Pay Commission recommendations at the time they retire. A Major General who retired in 1996 would draw less pension than his junior who retired years later.
 
The implementation of OROP will cost the government an estimated Rs. 8,300 crore annually.

 

Courtesy: NDTV