New Delhi: One of the long-standing demand of Armed forces, 'one rank, one pension' (OROP) is likely to be part of the Union budget 2015-16.
The OROP could be implemented soon with the government defining 'military pension' as a category separate from other kinds of pension.
The estimate of Rs 8,000 crore is likely to be allocated by government to fulfill its commitment to the over 25 lakh ex-servicemen, who have been stridently demanding OROP for several years without much success despite all political parties promising its implementation.
Sources said the government this time has decided that the military personnel, who retire at an earlier age and undergo life-threatening postings, cannot be equated with other government employees.
Both the finance and defence ministers, Arun Jaitely and Manohar Parrikar, have approved the step. OROP basically implies payment of uniform pension to personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.
The government has also taken into account the fact that soldiers, airmen and sailors retire much earlier than their civilian counterparts and receive "aborted pension'' rather than "matured pension'' as compared to those serving in the BSF or CRPF.
One rank-one pension scheme has been a long-standing demand of the over 2 million ex-servicemen in the country. It seeks to ensure that a uniform pension is paid to defence personnel who retire at the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.
