Orop: 99% pensioners will get benefits by January-end, says Manohar Parrikar

New Delhi: Defence Minster Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said that around 20 lakh pensioners have been paid the benefits of One Rank One Pension (Orop) so far, and more than 99 percent of cases will be settled by January-end.

Manohar Parrikar. File photo. PTI

"So far, we have already paid the benefits to more than 19,70,000 pensioners. Around 68,000 pension cases were in scrutiny in December. The targeted time schedule was end of December and 13,000 cases are sent to pension dispersing authority," Parrikar said at a press conference.
"With that I think almost 99 percent of the eligible cases will be settled probably by January. One percent is not being able to trace them, probably dead," the minister said.
Parrikar said he has "instructed all the agencies to go and find out such cases".
"Rs 6,300 crore has already been dispersed as arrears and the current payments are ongoing for the current period. Total back arrears will be around Rs 10,800 crore of which Rs 6,300 crore has been disbursed," he said.
Orop for retired armed forces personnel was announced on 5 September, 2015.
The scheme took 2013 as the base year to calculate pensions and date of implementation was 1 July, 2014. The period for review was kept at five years.
First Published On : Jan 3, 2017 20:59 IST

In New Year, services await revised pay

Defence sources said that the government had in principle agreed to most of the core concerns expressed by the services.

As the New Year sets in, there is disgruntlement in the military as they are yet to receive their revised pay under the Seventh Pay Commission (SPC). This is because the issue is held up pending resolution of the core concerns raised by the services with respect to their civilian counterparts in the SPC recommendations.
Defence sources said that the government had in principle agreed to most of the core concerns expressed by the services but stated that the issue being complicated it would take some more time.
“The issue is currently being discussed between the Defence and Finance ministries and the Prime Minister’s Office. A decision will be taken at the earliest,” a source observed.

The Defence Ministry has already issued the implementation order, which is pending further process as the services have not issued special instructions so far despite the government’s request, and thus military personnel continue to receive the Sixth Pay Commission prescribed salaries unlike their civilian counterparts.

Letter to PM, Parrikar

The three Chiefs had written to Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the discrepancies which were not cleared by the empowered committee appointed to look into the issue. “The finance wing of the Ministry sought the financial implication of these concerns from the services two weeks ago.” another source stated.
Around the same time, the Lavasa committee, appointed to look into the issue of allowances under the SPC, held its 7th meeting. “The Defence Ministry has largely supported the concerns of the services,” the source added.
The services had on several occasions raised four core concernswhich they perceive reduce the status of the armed forces with respect to their civilian counterparts. These include Non Functional Upgrade (NFU), NFU pay fixation, Military Service Pay (MSP) and common pay matrix for civil and military.

Ahead of Diwali in November the Government approved a one-time 10 per cent interim relief for military personnel for a period of 10 months from January to October 2016 pending resolution of the issue.

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