The Union Cabinet on Friday approved the revision of pension of armed forces pensioners and family pensioners under One Rank One Pension (OROP) from July 1, 2019. More than 25.13 lakh veterans will be benefitted from this decision, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said at a media briefing.
The decision will lead to enhanced pension according to the OROP proposal, he said. The benefit will also be extended to family pensioners, including war widows and disabled pensioners.
"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," the Defence Ministry said.
Armed forces personnel retired up to June 30, 2019, will be covered under the pension revision.
"The Armed Forces Personnel retired up to June 30, 2019 (excluding pre-mature (PMR) retired with effect from July 01, 2014) will be covered under this revision in OROP," the Defence Ministry further said.
Over Rs 23,600 crore will be paid as arrears from July 2019 to June 2022. The estimated additional annual spending on the revised OROP for the government will be Rs 8,450 crore, including 31 per cent dearness relief.
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The arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments, the government said. However, all family pensioners, including those who get special or liberalised family pension and gallantry award winners, will be paid arrears in one instalment.
The revised OROP would encourage young people to join the armed forces, the government said in a statement.
The decision to implement OROP was taken by the Narendra Modi-led government on November 7, 2015, with benefits effective from July 1, 2014.
OROP was a long-standing demand of the Armed forces personnel. As per OROP, retired soldiers of the same rank, who have retired after serving for the same length of service, will receive the same pension, irrespective of the date and year of their retirement.
Earlier this month, the Centre had moved the Supreme Court seeking extension of time till March 15, 2023, for payment of arrears of One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme to all eligible pensioners of the armed forces. It had first moved the top court in June and sought three months to compute and make payment.
However, the Supreme Court had asked the government to pay the arrears within three months. Earlier on March 16, the top court upheld the OROP scheme adopted by the Centre, saying it does not suffer from any "constitutional infirmity" and was not "arbitrary".