OROP Full Form
What is the full form of OROP?
OROP stands for "One Rank One Pension," it is a scheme that ensures that all the officials of the Indian Army who belong to the same rank, and served the same length of service, will get a similar amount of pension after their retirement, irrespective of their date of retirement. This was to ensure that Army personnel who were retired years back will get the same amount of payment as the new personnel who get retired shall get. This helps in bringing equality to the Indian Armed Forces.
About OROP scheme
“One Rank One Pension,” means those army officials who retired with the same rank, but in different years, will get the same amount of pension.
In India, it officially came into action on 1st July 2014, after the official letter from the Union Government of India. An older veteran will logically get a smaller amount as a pension. To fill up this gap, OROP ensures that the pension of older veterans is increased whenever the income of new army officials is increased. It will help provide equality and a suitable amount of income that is necessary. It was officially discontinued in 1973. Afterwards, in 2008 civil servants' salaries and pensions were increased, which led to the distress among armed forces on seeing the discrimination.
The koshyari committee
In 2008, after the decline of One Rank One Pension by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, there was an outrage among the Armed forces. A protest was started after a few months to address this issue by Armed officials. The main issues that they noted were: justice, equality, honour, and national security.
Due to the rise in protest, the Indian government had to set up an all-party Parliamentary Panel that consisted of ten members. Bhagat Singh Koshyari became the chairman, and the committee came to be known as Koshyari Committee, It was established to examine the OROP issue. After 8 months of hearing the arguments from top officials from the Ministry of Defence and Finance, the report was finally submitted in December 2011, which agreed with the rule of One Rank One Pension.
Merits and demerits of OROP
Below are the merits and demerits of OROP given:
Merits | Demerits |
All the army officials will get equal pay, regardless of their year of retirement, with the same rank and equal serving for a number of years. It will ensure that | They can be a financial burden on the government for paying the officials. As the cost will be high |
It ensured that older veterans do not have to suffer from less pension, and can live a proper life. | As the payment will be according to their rank, army veterans with a lower rank will get lower pay, compared to the veterans with a higher rank. |
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
No, armed officials who get retired early would not get their pension under OROP.
Almost 5 years were taken by the Koshyari Committee to make its final decision.
Bhagat Singh Koshyari is an RSS veteran and Indian politician and he also served as a National Vice-President of BJP. He was the chairman of the Koshyari committee.
Under Indira Gandhi's leadership, OROP was discontinued in 1973.