Details of OROP to be announced by Defence Minister at 3 p.m

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Meenakshi Lekhi on Saturday said that all the details about the much awaited One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme would be disclosed by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at his press conference at 3 pm today.

"At 3 p.m. all the details will come out in Manohar Parrikar's press conference," Lekhi told media.

"The issue of OROP has been pending since 1973. First it was reduced to 50 percent and then to 70 percent. Therefore we (BJP government) should not be blamed for all this," she added.

"It is Narendra Modi's government and the kind of difficulties which this government was facing because somebody was talking about giving Rs. 500 crores, some committee was giving Rs. 250 crores and to make it really one rank, one pension, it would be close to Rs.10,000 crores is what the government is going to spend," she further said.

The government has been facing criticism after it stated that it would stick to its position on a five-year reset clause, while the military veterans are insisting the pensions should be revised at least once every two years.

The ex-servicemen had originally demanded an annual adjustment.

The OROP scheme has been a long-standing demand of nearly three million ex-servicemen and war widows in the country.