Prime Minister Modi Inspecting Guard of Honour

Prime Minister Modi Inspecting Guard of Honour

Monday, December 29, 2014

PIB release on below circular

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
12-August-2014 12:46 IST
Payment of DA on Pension of Ex-Servicemen
Guidelines issued by the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare for payment of Dearness Relief to re-employed pensioners have been extended by this Ministry to the ex-servicemen re-employed in civil posts. These guidelines are as under:-

• The pay of re-employed pensioners who held posts of the ranks of Commissioned Officers at the time of their retirement is fixed at the same stage as last drawn before their retirement. These pensioners are not entitled to any Dearness Relief on pension on their re-employment in civil posts.

• The pay of re-employed pensioners who held posts below the ranks of Commissioned Officers (PBOR) at the time of their retirement is fixed at the minimum of the pay scale of the post in which they are re-employed. Such pensioners are entitled to Dearness Relief on pension on their re-employment in civil posts.

• If the pay of re-employed pensioners who held posts, below the ranks of Commissioned Officer (PBOR) at the time of their retirement before attaining the age of 55 years, is fixed at a higher stage because of advance increments and no protection of the last pay drawn is being given, the pay is treated as fixed at a minimum of the pay scale for the purposes of ignoring the entire pension and allowing Dearness Relief on pension.

It is expected that the aforesaid guidelines are being implemented by all banks uniformly without prejudice to the ex-servicemen category. This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Arun Jaitley in a written reply to ShriMahendra Singh Mahrain Rajya Sabha today.

DM/RK


RE-EMPLOYED EX-SERVICEMEN TO GET DA ON PENSION EVEN IN BANKS &PSUs

Circular 166


Sunday, December 28, 2014

‘One rank, one pension’ scheme before next Budget: Parrikar

The Tribune

Manohar Parrikar, Defence Minister
Panaji, December 26
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar today said the ‘one rank, one pension’ policy would be implemented in the defence forces before the next Budget.
“One rank, one pension policy will be implemented. We are right now working on its detailing,” Parrikar said. The implementation has lot of financial implications which are being worked out, he said.
“It has a lot of financial implications. Details would be available only once we work it out,” Parrikar said.
‘One rank, one pension’ policy means soldiers of the same rank and same length of service get the same pension irrespective of their retirement date. Parrikar said the announcement to implement the policy was made in the last Budget.
“Now we will have to implement it. I have kept a target that it will be implemented before the next Budget. My effort is to ensure that it should be implemented as soon as possible. My target is that it should not wait for the next Budget,” he said.
Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha recently, the Congress had accused the government of delaying the implementation of the scheme. The OROP had been announced in the Interim Budget in February, but was yet to be implemented, Congress MP from Rohtak, Deepender Hooda, said in Parliament.
Deepender Hooda accused the bureaucracy of trying to dilute the original meaning of OROP as defined by the Koshiyari Committee, which was the petition committee of the Rajya Sabha. Hooda had asked the government to come out and announce the implementation of OROP. — PTI


Thursday, December 18, 2014

One Rank, One Pension: Is the bureaucracy back to the same old game of delay dilute and deny?

| Logout Login | Register
Top of Form
Search for:
Bottom of Form
December 2, 2014, 6:58 pm IST V Mahalingam in In Search of Propriety|India| TOI
The entire military veterans’ community which includes the war disabled and the widows are dismayed and feel betrayed at the inordinate delay in implementing the One Rank One Pension (OROP) by the government.
The Koshyari committee, a multi-party parliamentary committee recommended OROP in its report presented to the Parliament on December 19, 2011. After procrastinating over the report for more than 3 years, the erstwhile UPA government announced the grant of OROP on the floor of the Parliament as a part of the interim Budget presented on Feb 17, 2014.
Immediately thereafter, the then defence minister convened a meeting to discuss the modalities for the implementation of OROP. The meeting was attended among others by the minister of state for defenceJitendra Singh, the defence secretary RK Mathur, secretary ex-servicemen’s welfare SangitaGairola, secretary defence finance ArunavaDutt, the three service vice chiefs  and the adjutant generals or equivalents from the services headquarters.
A Press Information Bureau (Defence Wing) release issued after the meeting stated that the defence minister “assured the services that the government was fully committed to implement the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) policy and that required funds will be made available to ensure its implementation”. It further went on to define OROP thus:
“OROP implies that uniform pension be paid to the armed forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service irrespective of their date of retirement and any future enhancement in the rates of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners. This implies bridging the gap between the rate of pension of the current pensioners and the past pensioners, and also future enhancements in the rate of pension to be automatically passed on to the past pensioners”.
This definition is in conformity with the Supreme Court’s judgment in the famous Major General SVS Veins Vs Union of India case.
The defence minister had also during the meeting directed the Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) to initiate immediate steps in consultation with the three services, ministry of defence finance and department of ESW to give effect to the decision. He had also emphasized that family pensioners and disability pensioners would be included.
The BJP government reaffirmed their commitment to OROP in their Budget 2014 – 15 presented at the Parliament on 10 July 2014 (paragraph 140). Prime Minister Modi too had promised OROP in his very first election rally besides echoing his resolve on the issue subsequently during his visits to various defence establishments.
Despite nine months having gone by, the bureaucracy is still sitting in audit of the Parliamentary Committee’s recommendations and the Prime Minister’s announcements and perhaps attempting to redefine OROP. If nine months are not good enough for an organisation to work out the details with a clear definition of what they ought to be doing, those in authority in the organisation have no business to continue in service.
It now appears that the CGDA has come out with a projection of 9000 crores as the additional burden on the exchequer to implement the OROP whereas the service headquarters have estimated a requirement of 5000 crores. The CGDA has not provided the details of their calculations to the Service Headquarters. The projection by the CGDA, the veterans’ community therefore believes is flawed and meant to mislead the defence minister. If the calculations are genuine, why keep it a secret ask the veterans. Even if the expenditure is as projected by the CGDA, is it too much of a price for the nation to pay to those who risk their life at the cost of their family’s welfare and their children’s future development at their old age?
Veterans also point to the alacrity with which the bureaucracy implemented the non-functional upgradation (NFU) to officers of organised group ‘A’ services. The report of the Sixth Central Pay Commission was submitted to finance minister P Chidambaram by Justice BN Srikrishna on March 24, 2008. The cabinet approved sixth pay commission recommendations with some modifications on August 14, 2008 and the NFU proposal was implemented on April 24, 2009 vide ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions department of personnel and training 0M No.AB.14017/64/2008-Estt.(RR) dated 24.4.2009 barely 13 months after the report was submitted to the government by the commission.
It is an irony that while 100 % officers of the Organised Group ‘A’ Services are covered under the NFU and thus eligible to draw the salary of a Joint Secretary at a service of 19 years, only 0.8 % of the Defence Services Officers would be eligible for a similar treatment after 28 years of service. The system has been so engineered that it places 100% officers of the Organised Group ‘A’ services under the ambit of OROP. Where is the parity between the Civil and Military now, a plea under which the military was brought within the civil services pay and pension system? How can two streams of services with diverse service conditions and terms of retirement have the same pay and pension structure? Where has justice and fair play gone?
The Veterans point out that before the Government had made the announcement regarding implementation of OROP on 17 February 2014 in the Parliament, the financial effects of implementing the scheme would have been worked out and a green signal given to the proposal by the very same bureaucracy which is now sitting in judgment of the Government’s announcement in the Parliament and blocking its implementation. Is the Government being run by the political leadership or the bureaucracy?
Veterans allege that the bureaucracy acts as a stumbling block in every issue that has a positive impact on the soldiers even going to the extent of challenging court verdicts providing minimal financial benefits to Veterans, war disabled and widows in the Supreme Court. The government is prepared to spend money, time, and effort fighting cases even where the financial implications are insignificant but supporting the soldiering community is a total No No. The aim is to frustrate the community and make them run around lawyers and courts at their advanced age spending their valuable time and money fighting a legal battle with the mighty state.
It is time the Prime Minister sees the plot. Delay is an instrument which is exploited by the bureaucracy to deny people their right besides forcing people to pay a bribe to get their file moving. In this case it is a fundamental ethos of the bureaucracy to keep the soldiers begging for everything that they rightly deserve.
The Veterans are an aging community. Inordinate delay in implementing a long standing issue which could provide them with some relief at their old age only gives a feeling that those in the Government who have a moral responsibility to look after the soldiering community at their old age are merely waiting in anticipation for the aged to wither away as time passes. A large number passed away without seeing the Rank Pay arrears. Let that not happen in the case of OROP.


ON PUBLIC REQUEST THE PUNJAB AND HARYANA HIGH COURT JUDGEMENT IS POSTED AGAIN HERE

SALARY HIKE TO MPS, ONE RANK, ONE PENSION

SALARY HIKE TO MPS, ONE RANK, ONE PENSION
Letter to Hon'ble Prime Minister by Hon'ble M.P.

Page-2

Ex-Servicemen return Medals