Will launch stir if OROP is not brought: Hazare to PM

Social activist Anna Hazare has announced his support for the One Rank One Pension Scheme.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Hazare wrote that he would launch a countrywide agitation if OROP wasn’t implemented. He said the OROP issue was agreed upon by the government in 2014 but was not implemented. “Subsequently, the Supreme Court had given the government three months to implement it in February 2015, but no decision was taken.”

The activist, a former serviceman himself, wrote, “We have to take care of our soldiers and farmers. Making hollow announcements for their welfare and actually implementing them are different things.”

Retired defence personnel have been on strikes across the country, demanding that the Modi sarkar set a date for the implementation of the scheme.

The government has earlier said it was committed to OROP and has set aside Rs. 8300 crore for its implementation, but has refused to specify a timeline.

OROP seeks to ensure that defence personnel who retire at the same rank and with the same length of service, will get equal pension, irrespective of when they retired.

About 25 lakh veterans - among them over 6 lakh war widows -- who retired before 2006, stand to benefit from the scheme.