OROP notification issued

Bharatiya Janata Party National General Secretary Ram Madhav on Saturday confirmed that notification regarding 'One Rank, One Pension' (OROP) have been issued after addressing most of the contentious issues.

"OROP notification issued. I am told that the most contentious issue of VRS has been removed thus addressing the major concerns of d veterans," tweeted Ram Madhav on Saturday evening.

"The wait is over. #OROP notification issued," confirmed Sitanshu Kar, Ministry of Defence (MoD) Principal Spokesperson.

In a series of tweets, Kar stated: "Pension of past pensioners would be re-fixed on the basis of pension of retirees of 2013 & the benefit will be frm 1 July 2014.

"Pension will be re-fixed as per average of min & max pension of personnel retired in 2013 in same rank & same length of service.

"Pension for those drawing above the average shall be protected. Arrears will be paid in four equal half yearly instalments.

"All family pensioners incl those getting Spl/Liberalized fmily pension & Gallantry award winners to get arrears in 1 instalment. In future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5 years.

"Personnel who opt to get discharged, now on, on their request will not get benefits of OROP. It will be effective prospectively. Govt. will appoint a Judicial Committee to look into anomalies & submit its report in 6 months."

The ex-servicemen on Friday had announced that they would intensify their demand for early implementation of the OROP scheme as per the "approved and accepted" definition. They had also threatened to return their medals, and would observe a "black Diwali" on November 11.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, however, had assured that the OROP scheme would be implemented before Diwali.

"As you know it will happen before Diwali," Parrikar told reporters on Friday.