EX-SERVICEMEN DIVIDED IN THE NAME OF OROP

NDTV's Barkha Dutt speaks to Finance Minister P Chidambaram. Here's the full transcript of the interview:

NDTV: Let's then focus to what's our 9th budget. There are those who would say that in this Interim Budget, it couldn't be too much of an event but the one, but the one pattern that could be spotted was that you were trying to woo a constituency that was not being typically being wooed by the Congress, the military constituency, the ex-servicemen with One Rank One Pension, the urban Indian. Usually the Congress is quoted in rural India. Let's start with One Rank One Pension. It was typically something that was pending for at least 5 years. Has it now been pushed through because Rahul Gandhi said it should be so?

P Chidambaram: These are such predictable questions

NDTV: Because there seems to be a script. He meets the servicemen last week and then he announces the 500 crore sop

P Chidambaram: Please remember that the One Rank One Pension has been corrected three times by the UPA government

NDTV: But partially implemented not to the satisfaction of the community.

P Chidambaram: That's not correct. I have the facts and you and your viewers should know the facts. We corrected it in 2006, we corrected it again in 2010, we corrected it again in 2013 and we closed the gap for 4 ranks, so what is left is 2 Other Ranks, OR, and 2 other ranks and the officers category. That is what is left out. And therefore we've got the last rank in this journey of correction, we have walked a substantial distance since 2006 and we walked the last mile and we said let's close the gap completely. So this is a process. That process which the Vice President of the Party met with ex-servicemen at some point and said I'll take up your cause. Well I congratulate him for that. The point is these are discussions that have been going on for quite some time within the government, within the Finance Ministry or Defence Ministry before I drafted my speech, I started writing it a several days before.

NDTV: Well before Mr Gandhi met with ex-servicemen?

P Chidambaram: Drafting started much before that, but the process is going on since 2006. But consultations within the Party, within the government, I can share with you, have been going on for at least a month now.

NDTV: There are military personnel who have raised concerns that 500 crores are not enough and that the Defence Ministry estimated 1300 cores, now it is 1700 crores. Will this be implemented? Now it is up to the next government.

P Chidambaram: In fact I gave this news, the first estimate was about 1300 crores, the second estimate was based on earlier calculations, 1700 crores. The final estimate is 500 crores, the number is not relevant

NDTV: And you believe that number is sufficient to be implemented for years?

P Chidambaram: The number is not relevant. I have made it absolutely clear in my post budget discussion. This number I've taken because the MoD has given me this number. But whatever it requires will be given next year. As an earnest, I have given the 500 crores due next year, even this year. I'm transferring the 500 crores this year. I'm not passing on the burden. In fact I'm relieving the burden in the next fiscal year.

 

 SOURCE: CLICK LINK BELOW

http://www.ndtv.com

DA MERGER LIKELY SOON

NEW DELHI: The government may increase and merge dearness allowance (DA) with basic pay with the Union Cabinet expected to include the proposal as part of the terms of reference of the 7th pay commission.
The move will facilitate announcement of interim relief to more than 50 lakh government employees and 30 lakh pensioners by the newly-constituted pay commission before the code of conduct for the Lok Sabha polls come into force.
Central government employees unions have been demanding that besides raising DA to 100%, the government should revise the pay and merge DA with basic pay, considering market inflation and price hike of essential commodities.
As per practice, DA is merged with basic pay when it breaches the 50% mark. DA merger helps employees as their other allowances are paid as a proportion of basic pay.
An official said if merger of 50% DA with basic pay was decided, it could lead to hike in salary by around 30-35%. He added that there were instances of announcing interim relief to employees apart from DA by a newly constituted pay commission prior to their implementation.
Merger of 50% DA with basic pay was done in the 5th pay commission, but the 6th commission did not recommended it.
The Centre is expected to announce next month a hike in dearness allowance by 10% which would make it 100% of basic pay. It will be the second double digit DA hike in a row as the government had announced a hike of 10% in September last year, effective from July 1, 2013.
An official said hike in DA will not be less than 10% and would be effective from January 1 this year. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/ 

CONTEMPT PETITION IN CAT PB ARGUMENT CONTINUES

The contempt petition came up  before the principal bench of CAT PB today on 
19/02/2014. Both sides pleaded their views.
The court asked both parties to give their pleas in writing.The case is posted to 05/03/2014 for further hearing.

OROP- AN OLD WINE IN THE NEW BOTTLE

To sushmaswaraj@hotmail.com

Today at 9:56 AM 

Respected Madam,

 Mr.Chidambaram was misleading the Lok Saba when he told during his budget speech that one rank one pension has already been granted to Havildars & equivalent ranks of armed forces & needs to be done only in case of Sepoy , Naik , Major & above .
It is very far from truth. Maximum disparity exists between the pre &post 2006 Rank of sergeant(Havildar) of same group & length of service

Example;-

The minimum basic bay of an X group sergeant (Havildar) of air force with 15 years of service as per 6th CPC is 15500. Hence his present basic pension  as per 6th CPC is 7750(50% of 15500). Where as a pre -2006 sergeant(Havildar) of same group & length of service  now gets only a basic pension of 6374.

The relevant authority circular for the above calculation is attached herewith.

Kindly take up this matter in the Lok Saba during discussion on the finance bill  for the welfare of Ex-servicemen of this country.

May god bless you

With regards,

M.B.CHANDRAN MENON

• 2 Attachments

• IAF PAY
• 471.pdf
• (copy of mail send to leader of opposition)

ONE RANK ONE PENSION APPROVED FOR EX-SERVICEMEN

The Centre today announced that it has accepted the "one rank, one pension" principle for the forces as part of a 10 per cent hike in the defence budget, a decision that the ruling Congress hopes will win it the support of lakhs of soldiers ahead of the national election, due by May.
In his interim budget speech, Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced that the defence budget was being raised to Rs. 2,24,000 crore.
"Rs. 500 crore will be transferred in 2014-15 for implementing the one rank one pension decision," he added.
Under the "one rank, one pension" rule, retired soldiers of the same rank and length of service will receive the same pension, regardless of when they retire. Currently, pensioners who retired before 2006 receive less pension than their counterparts, even their juniors.
The mega announcement comes three days after Rahul Gandhi endorsed it after meeting a delegation of ex-servicemen last Friday.
This will be implemented prospectively in the financial year 2014-2015. 
http://www.ndtv.com/rank-one-pension 

Rahul Gandhi shows '' cape of good hope'' for Ex-servicemen voyager?? is it an island with OROP ?????????

New Delhi, Feb 14, 2014 DHNS:

Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday lent his support to the long-standing demand of ex-servicemen for “one rank, one pension” (OROP).
“I am on your side. I understand your concerns. You give your life for the country, I will do all that I can to see that your demands are met,” Gandhi told various state delegations of ex-servicemen who met him.
The delegations from Haryana, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab met the Congress vice-president on Friday and pressed for implementation of OROP.

There are over two million defence pensioners who receive differential retirement benefits. All pre-2006 pensioners receive lesser pension than those who retired in the same rank later and even than those of junior rank.
A colonel who retired in 2003 gets Rs 26,150 as pension compared to Rs 34,000 drawn by a colonel who retired this year. BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had also reached out to them when he addressed a huge rally of ex-servicemen in Rewari last year with former Army Chief V K Singh joining him on the dais.
Gandhi assured the ex-servicemen that he would make all efforts to ensure that this long-standing demand is met at the earliest.

http://www.deccanherald.com

Defence forces to get special hearing from 7th pay panel

NEW DELHI: The armed forces are finally in for a special hearing, with the Centre likely to separately deal with issues pertaining to their service conditions and payment structures in the 7th Central Pay Commission. The Union government, however, has not accepted the demand for military representation on the pay panel.

The terms of reference for the 7th CPC, to be cleared by the Cabinet, will for the first time include a paragraph on the defence forces. It has come in response to intense lobbying by the defence ministry and the armed forces, with the latter for long complaining of a "raw deal" compared to their civilian counterparts in the fixation of salaries by the central panel.

According to the terms of reference, the pay panel will examine the salary structure and benefits, including retirement benefits, with "due emphasis on the aspects unique to these (military) personnel". The allowances could be reviewed in view of the hardships, both in terms of operations and frequent transfers, associated with military service.

The focus on the defence forces comes in the wake of the massive unrest triggered by the 6th CPC report which led to the three Service chiefs lodging serious complaints about the recommendations.

There is another plus for the defence forces, with Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur to chair the pay commission. He has been the chairman of the Armed Forces Tribunal and the government says he is conversant with the issues related to defence forces.

Thus, while keeping a representative of the defence forces has not been accepted on the grounds that it would lead to similar demand from other specialized services, the presence of the chair is sent to indirectly meet the demand.

While the pay panel is a populist move given the vast vote base that government employees make, the defence community of 14 lakh serving and 23 lakh retired military personnel itself swells into a sizeable - albeit diffused - vote bank of around 1.5 crore people if family members are also taken into account.

The government was rattled by the widespread anger in the armed forces in 2008-2009 when they complained that successive pay panels had failed to address their long-pending pay and pension "anomalies". Hundreds of ex-servicemen continue to protest by returning their medals even today over the failure of successive governments to implement the one-rank, one-pension principle despite it being promised by most parties in their manifestoes.

In June last year, defence minister A K Antony had written a frantic letter to PM Manmohan Singh to express alarm over the "growing discontentment" among the armed forces, which led to the constitution of a committee under cabinet secretary Ajit Kumar Seth to look into their grievances. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com