OROP for DUMMIES

OROP FOR DUMMIES

A Spoof

By

VIKRAM KARVE

Let me explain the essence of OROP in a rather simplistic manner - by giving you an illustrative example.

Consider Two Twin Brothers both Matric Pass.

One joins the Army as a Soldier.

Other joins Govt Service as a Peon.

Both get same starting pay.

Soldier retires at 35 years of age.

Peon retires at 60 years of age.

At the age of 35 - salaries of Peon and Soldier will be similar.

Pension is 50% of salary.

So - when the Soldier retires  at 35 - the Soldier will get 50% of what the Peon is getting.

Soldiers do not get employment easily - so most likely - the Soldier (and his family) will have to survive his entire life on meagre pension.

Meanwhile - Peon can serve 25 years more till 60 years - during which he will get promotions (due to ACP), a total of 25 of increments each year and benefit of at least 3 Pay Commissions during which his salary will be nearly doubled/trebled each time.

Owing to Assured Career Progression (ACP) - the Peon would have also got promotion to higher ranks of Assistant/Office Superintendent etc with higher salary and NFU (Non-Functional Upgradation).

So - when the Peon retires at 60 - his salary will be at least 10 times the salary he got when he was 35.

So - the Peon will get 10 times the Pension as his Twin Brother Soldier (since Pension is 50% of last pay drawn and his pay has increased 10 times from the age of 35 to 60).

The aim of OROP is to partially compensate this huge disadvantage in pension to the soldier due to forced early retirement as compared to his civilian counterpart.

The other option is to increase the retirement age of all soldiers to 60 years and bring soldiers on par with their civilian counterparts.

The third option is to ensure employment in civilian life for a soldier once he retires at 35 - which the government has miserably failed to do.

What do you feel is the best option:

1. Give OROP to soldiers

or

2. Increase the retirement age of all soldiers to 60 years?

Remember - when there is a war - it is soldiers who will come to your rescue - not Civilian "Babus".

The Army is a fighting force requiring high standards - unlike civilian jobs where fitness and age may not matter too much.

For example - persons with disabilities cannot join or continue serving in the Army - whereas they can continue in civilian jobs till retirement.

Citizens must remember that the Armed Forces are like an "Insurance Policy".

Don't you pay premium for your insurance policy?

Think about it.

After reading this - I hope you feel that soldiers should get OROP.

NB: The above example is hypothetical and just for illustrative purposes to bring out the essence of OROP (One Rank One Pension)