Defence ex-servicemen meet Arun Jaitley over One Rank One Pension

 A group of ex-servicemen on Wednesday met Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to convey to him their concern over the much-delayed 'One Rank One Pension' scheme which is expected to benefit about 22 lakh retired defence personnel.

"The talks were positive and he listened to our concern. He said he will continue the deliberation on the issue," Maj Gen Satbir Singh (Retd) said after the meeting. Singh told reporters that the planned rally on June 14 followed by a hunger strike the next day will continue.

OROP seeks to ensure that a uniform pension is paid to the defence personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. Even though the government has said it is committed to implementing OROP, there has been no official clarification on why the scheme is delayed. Manohar Parrikar has repeatedly said the government has completed all formalities and OROP will be implemented soon.