Cabinet revises OROP for Armed Forces with arrears at additional annual cost of Rs 8,450 cr

India

oi-Madhuri Adnal

New
Delhi,
Dec
23:
The
Union
Cabinet,
headed
by
Prime
Minister
Narendra
Modi,
has
approved
revision
of
pension
of
Armed
Forces
Pensioners/family
pensioners
under
One
Rank
One
Pension
(OROP).
Pension
of
the
past
pensioners
would
be
re-fixed
on
the
basis
of
average
of
minimum
and
maximum
pension
of
Defence
Forces
retirees
of
calendar
year
2018
in
the
same
rank
with
the
same
length
of
service.

Information
and
Broadcasting
Minister
Anurag
Thakur
said
it
will
lead
to
enhanced
pension
according
to
the
OROP
proposal.
The
benefit
would
also
be
extended
to
family
pensioners,
including
war
widows
and
disabled
pensioners,
the
government’s
official
spokesperson
tweeted
after
Thakur
announced
the
Cabinet
decision
at
a
press
conference.

Beneficiaries

The
Armed
Forces
Personnel
retired
up
to
June
30,
2019{excluding
pre-mature
(PMR)
retired
w.e.f.July
01,
2014}
will
be
covered
under
this
revision.
More
than
25.13
lakh
(including
over
4.52
lakh
new
beneficiaries)
Armed
Forces
Pensioners/family
pensioners
will
be
benefitted.Pension
for
those
drawing
above
the
average
shall
be
protected.
The
benefit
would
also
be
extended
to
family
pensioners,
including
war
widows
anddisabled
pensioners.

If
voted
to
power,
Congress
will
fulfil
OROP
commitments:
Rahul
Gandhi

Arrears
will
be
paid
in
four
half-yearly
instalments.
However,
all
the
family
pensioners,
including
those
in
receipt
of
Special/Liberalised
Family
Pension
and
Gallantry
Award
Winners,
shall
be
paid
arrears
in
one
instalment.

Expenditure

The
estimated
annual
expenditure
for
the
implementation
of
the
revision
has
been
calculated
as
approx.
Rs
8,450
crore
@31%
Dearness
Relief
(DR).
Arrears
w.e.f.July
01,
2019
to
December
31,
2021
have
been
calculated
as
over
Rs
19,316
crore
based
on
DR
@
17%
for
the
period
from
July
01,
2019
to
June
30,
2021
and
@31%
for
the
period
from
July
01,
2021
to
December
31,
2021.
Arrears
w.e.f.July
01,
2019
to
June
30,
2022
have
been
calculated
as
appox.
Rs23,638
crore
as
per
the
applicable
dearness
relief.
This
expenditure
is
over
and
above
the
ongoing
expenditure
on
account
of
OROP.