ONE RANK ONE PENSION (OROP) IMBROGLIO
Random Ramblings of a Retired Mind
By
VIKRAM KARVE
Last year, on 24 April 2012, I had written a
blog post on the never ending “One Rank One Pension” (OROP) imbroglio.
I am reposting the article below for your
perusal, to be read in conjunction with my recent blog post titled:
[ Click link to open in new window: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2013/09/one-rank-one-pension-orop-contrarian.html ]
[Link to Original Post (click to open in new
window)]: http://karvediat.blogspot.in/2012/04/one-rank-one-pension.html
Almost every evening I see some retired
veterans ranting and raving during discussions and debates on TV Channels about
ONE RANK ONE PENSION.
Frankly speaking, I really don’t understand
what this hullabaloo about ONE RANK ONE PENSION is all about – to me the whole
thing is quite confusing.
I have asked many of my retired colleagues but no one
has been able to explain to me as to how it going to benefit all of us,
especially those who had to retire from service on attaining the age of
superannuation without attaining high ranks.
In the civil services you have ASSURED CAREER
PROGRESSION or ACP.
Civilian government servants retire at the
age of 60 and are assured of reaching a certain rank by the time they
superannuate. So they get a handsome pension.
In the Defence Forces you have ASSURED CAREER
SUPERSESSION or ACS.
Owing to the steep pyramidal hierarchical
structure a vast majority of defence personnel are superseded for promotion at
an early age and have to retire very early in life since the age of superannuation
is dependent on rank, unlike their civilian counterparts who uniformly
superannuate at the age of 60 irrespective of rank.
Will someone kindly to explain as to the how the
one-rank-one-pension concept will benefit all the soldiers and officers irrespective
of rank.
Unfortunately there is a perception that this will mainly benefit the
senior officers and not the junior officers and soldiers.
This perception needs
to be corrected and only then will everyone be convinced.
Regrettably, despite the poor promotion
prospects in the services, pay has been linked to rank and since it is
difficult to get promoted the service officer is put at a monetary disadvantage
vis-à-vis his civilian counterpart.
In order to alleviate this problem of
career-stagnation due to poor promotion prospects in the services, the 4th Pay
Commission introduced an Integrated Pay Scale (Running Pay Band) upto the rank
of Brigadier and equivalent. This concept had worked very well and should have
been extended to senior ranks.
This Running Pay Band Scheme, introduced by
the 4th Pay Commission, was an excellent concept.
Since the Integrated Pay
Scale was de-linked from rank it offered equitable prospects to all officers
and offered a recompense to those who could not be promoted due to lack of
vacancies (owing to the steep hierarchical pyramid) but continued serving the
nation.
This excellent Running Pay Band Concept (in
lieu of Assured Career Progression) was mysteriously abolished by the 5th Pay
Commission for reasons that are inexplicable and unfathomable.
If this Integrated Pay Scale concept is
brought back then pension will be rightly decided on years of service (and not
on rank attained) and this will automatically obviate the need for
one-rank-one-pension.
I feel that the one-rank-one-pension concept
is not fair to the superseded officers, who are in a vast majority, and will
benefit only the senior officers.
In my opinion, pension must be decided on the
number of years an officer has served the nation.
However, as I said, I may be wrong as I have
not fully understood this issue.
I shall be grateful if some knowledgeable
veteran could explain to us as to how one-rank-one-pension will truly benefit
all of us, especially those officers and soldiers who retired on superannuation,
after a long dedicated service to the nation, without having the good fortune
to reach high rank.
As I said earlier, there is a perception that
the one-rank-one-pension concept will mainly benefit the senior officers and
not the junior officers and soldiers.
This perception needs to be corrected and
only then will everyone be convinced.
VIKRAM KARVE
Copyright © Vikram Karve (24 April 2012)
Vikram Karve has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this book review.
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.
Disclaimer:
All stories in this blog are a work of fiction. The characters do not exist and are purely imaginary. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
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