OROP AND RE-EMPLOYMENT OF EX-SERVICEMEN PARTICULARLY OF OTHER RANKS

Dear Gen Harwant,

Nice to receive a long mail from you. I am happy to know that you also belonged
to the earlier generation where the values of officers were quite different from
those that I see now with much anguish and regret.
I used to come to College of Combat to lecture the officers attending Higher Com
mand Course every year. I and Yogi Sharma (who was a DS with me in Institute of
Defence Management at that time and later became Army Commander) used to conduct
the management Capsule. I used to lecture on quantitative aspects of Management
like Operations Research, System Analysis, Project Management etc and Yogi used
to talk about General Management, Motivation, Leadership, MBO etc.
The learning that happens within the four walls of a Class Room is quite limited
. What we learn during our life, in our work places, in our interaction with col
leagues and also opponents, during our visits to many places in our country and
outside is much more compared to the formal learning in the classes. Therefore y
ou have not missed much.
I agree with you on your comments on Pension as differed wages. In fact after th
is judgement was delivered, nothing further was done by the Govt as you had righ
tly pointed out. The learning of our Bureaucrats stops when they pass the entran
ce examination for IAS.
Few years ago, Some eminent economists from USA, mainly Indo-Americans, pointed
out to our Govt here that their Pension model was all wrong especially under an
current environment of high longevity of Indians and their aspirations. They adv
ised our Govt to move away from the current model of "Defined Benefits" to the m
ore appropriate economic model of "Defined Contributions". Govt accepted this re
commendation and introduced the New Pension Model of "Defined Contributions". Th
is Pension model has been made compulsory for all new entrants to Civil Service
few years ago (I think 4 years ago). There is an option for the earlier employee
s to opt for the new Pension Model. The Govt has framed rules that the money in
the Pension Fund will be invested in Fixed income Bonds and other long term Sec
urities and also in equity market (only Blue Chips up to a certain percentage).
The Civil Servant on his retirement will be paid some annuities and also lump su
m towards his retirement. For obvious reasons of truncated career, retirement at
young age, steep pyramid for promotions etc, this Pension Scheme of Defined Con
tribution had not been made applicable to Defence Services. But I have a sneakin
g fear that our Pension Scheme cannot sustain itself over a long time in the fut
ure even if the Govt wants to continue. Already, there are rumblings among some
Economists that the monthly Pension Bill of Ex-servicemen is likely to overtake
the monthly Pay Bill of the Serving Defence Personnel.
I agree that things are degenerating from Bad to Worst that the way the Services
are treated. The need for the hour is that we have to be united as a solid grou
p to take up issues affecting Ex-servicemen. Unfortunately we are divided and as
you rightly pointed out, inflated egos of some are damaging the interests of ma
ny. Progressively I find to my regret that the calibre and quality of the office
r cadre is dwindling. Imagine, till the other day , we were not even clear in ou
r minds what we required under OROP. Is it to based on total years of Service or
Years of Service in the rank?
When I read the report of Cabinet Secretary on OROP, I was aghast to find that
OROP was interpreted wrongly by the Bureaucrats and much legal evidence was prod
uced, based on earlier Supreme Court judgements to veto the wrongly interpreted
proposal. Even ESM interpret the demand based on their own interests that divide
s the community into groups. This is the sad part of our story.
Thanks for this interaction and I can assure you that I indeed benefited.
Kind Regards,
S.Murugan
OROP AND RE-EMPLOYMENT OF EX-SERVICEMEN PARTICULARLY OF OTHER RANKS
1. i claim to have no pretensions to join learned and well versed authorities on
matters of pay and pension. but please permit me to have my anguished say.
2. from what little i gathered whilst in usa on pension matters, adds on make a
little different set of picture frames.
a. whilst it is true, that in civil mode pension is 70 to 80% of last pay drawn,
but with some tax benefits and other small things the pay is literaly equal to
last pay drawn. the lump sum is towards capital expenses whereby your last insta
llments of house loans are taken care of. plus even the last person gets the ben
efit of the best hospital treatment and medication. for the poor, the hospital a
nd tv come to their rescue to get them the best possible treatment. the major r&
d contribution in medicines comes from elder peoples' insurance plus their contr
ibutionas.
as one grows old, the pension is sufficent for a person to have 2/3 times a week
, meals outside in resturants.
fyi please. their hospitality services earn their steady profits from old pensio
ners who travel the maximum.
plus all of them take up private jobs to live a comfortable life. is it possible
in india.
b. as far ex-servicemen service isin usa is concerned, it is in stints of 4 year
s tenures and pensions come that way, plus lump sums, plus education or re-educa
tion for a job, come separately. by and large ex-servicemen are well placed in t
he society in usa.
the main problem is with the young war casualties, wounded or mentally distresse
d. the problem is recognised and president obama and his secretary of veterans a
re making progressive liberalisations upto life time.
3. so the comparisons can be odious.
4. the problem in the indian context is altogether different. there are many bas
ic premises here which need to be addressed in indian environment.
a. some of the pensioners from mogul times were drawing a pension of re.1/- at t
he time of independence as it got divided amongst the family down the line.
b. at the time of independence most of the pensioners were living in penuary.
c. in the case of ex-servicemen, the basic premise was that they should be allow
ed to witherway, enjoying the life style they were used to whilst in service as
per british traditions, atleast for the officers. so da was added. the orop prob
lem did not come up then.
constitution enjoins dignity as a right for every citizen which in fauj means MA
AN,SMAAN AND IZZAT; which includes life style as long he or she lives. money is
an essential foundation component of it.
this was the rationale followed by bharat pension samaj which changed the 150 ye
ars old british pension act.
d. i put it across, sir, if adequate pension was provided post independence, cou
ld so much corruption have permeated in defence forces. and if pays were proper,
the generals did not have to do such unsavoury things.
e. there is another basic reason. in usa , uk, etc, the developed economies, the
annual inflation rates are in the region of 1 to 2 percent which can be taken c
are of by small increases, say every 4 years.
a developing economy like india with gdp growth of 8 to 10 percent has inflation
rate hovers around double digit. to keep the life style, in fact the pay and pe
nsions need to go up further so that temptation for corruption does not arise.
f. however it is equally true that welfare from birth to grave is getting drasti
call curtailed in advanced countries. except for defence in usa, the pensions an
d benefits are dwindling. let us not talk of european union who are not willing
to fight hot wars for another 100 years. it is likely that usa too is going to s
hun use of ground troops in future.
5. i should understand meaning of MAAN, SAMMAN AND IZZAT. when i recieved 3Rs fo
r no promotion to the rank of captian in the navy, i sought, in the best traditi
ons of royal navy [ that means not willing to serve under my juniors], premature
retirement even though i had no money beyond 2 months for the family. royal nav
y encourages departure of passed over officers. one rear admiral from coast guar
d, and one vice admiral from the navy who helped me to survive those difficult m
onths, would vouch for that. yet before leaving service i gave my views on servi
ce without bitterness to COP who later retired as c-in-c and i enjoy his blessin
gs till date.
6. i think we need to give up this rationale that orop pensions are not related
to money. ofcourse they are. otherwise how the ex-servicemen would continue to e
njoy their last life style and go from this world with MAAN, SMAAN AND IZZAT.
as far as civilians in usa are concerned their pensions are shrinking. so the in
dian civilians have no case for even small pensions.
with best regards,
cdr prem p batra retired