One Rank, One Pension


One Rank One Pension, or "same pension, for same rank, for same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement", is a longstanding demand of the Indian armed forces and veterans. The demand for pay-pension equity, which underlies the OROP concept, was provoked by the exparte decision by the Indira Gandhi-led Indian National Congress government, in 1973, two years after the historic victory in the 1971 Bangladesh war.
In 1986, the sense of unease and distrust prompted by the Third Central Pay Commission was exacerbated by the Rajiv Gandhi led Indian National Congress Government's decision to implement Rank Pay, which reduced basic pay of captain, majors, lt-colonel, colonels, and brigadiers, and their equivalent in the air-force, and the navy, relative to basic pay scales of civilian and police officers. The decision to reduce the basic pay of these ranks, implemented without consulting the armed forces, created radically asymmetries between police-military ranks, affected the pay and pension of tens of thousands of officers and veterans, and spawned two decades of contentious litigation by veterans. It became a lingering cause of distrust between the armed forces veterans and the MOD.
In 2008, the Manmohan Singh led United Progressive Alliance Government in the wake of the Sixth Central Pay Commission, discarded the concept of rank-pay. Instead it introduced Grade pay, and Pay bands, which instead of addressing the rank, pay, and pension asymmetries caused by 'rank pay' dispensation, reinforced existing asymmetries. The debasing of armed forces ranks was accompanied by decision in 2008 to create hundreds of new posts of secretaries, special Secretaries, director general of police at the apex grade pay level to ensure that all civilian and police officers, including defence civilian officers, retire at the highest pay grade with the apex pay grade pensions with One Rank One Pay.

Background

Between 2008–14, during the tenure of the UPA Government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Armed Forces grievances prompted by perceived inequities subsumed with the OROP issue to made OROP a rallying call that resonated with veterans of all ranks. In the latter half 2008, against the background of perceived discrimination and slights, armed forces veterans started a campaign of nationwide public protests and hunger strikes. In response to the OROP protests, which underscored the growing pay-pension-status asymmetries, the UPA Government, appointed a parliamentary committee in 2011 which found merit in the veterans demands for OROP.

Issues

The primary motivating grievance for the dispute was a string of decisions by the UPA Government in 2008–9 in the wake of Sixth Central Pay Commission, that sharply degraded Armed Forces pay grades and ranks. The failure to address issue of pay-pension equity, and the underlying issue of honor, led to escalation of the dispute.

Reduction of armed forces pensions

In 1973, the Indira Gandhi led Congress terminated ‘One Rank One Pension’, the basis for deciding pension of Indian Armed Forces Personnel ‘which had been in vogue for 26 years since independence’ through an ex parte administrative order. In addition, the Government, on the basis of the report of third Pay commission, increased the pension of civilians, who retired at 58, from 30 to 50 percent, and reduced the pension of soldiers, Non Commissioned Officers and Junior commissioned Officers from 70 to 50 percent of basic pay, with the caveat that for full pension the minimum service was 33 years. But as soldiers in 1973 retired after 15 years service, at the age of 33–36, they got less than 30 percent of the pay as pension. In addition to downgrading military pensions, the government downgraded the status of soldiers by equating an "infantry soldier with less than three years' service" with "semi-skilled/unskilled labour". The decision was announced two months after Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw, who led the army in the victorious 1971 war, retired from service. The reason for depressing the armed Forces pensions given by the Congress I government was that it wanted to ensure ‘equivalence’ of Armed Forces pensions with civilians.

Rank Pay

The concept of rank-pay introduced in 1986, affected tens of thousand of serving and retired officers of the three armed forces. Its provisions reinforced the growing sense of distrust between the MOD and the veterans. It debased the military ranks of captain, majors, lt-colonel, colonels, and brigadiers, and their equivalent in the air-force and the Indian Navy.
The implementation of BJP Government in 2016 of a separate pay matrix for the police and the armed forces, accentuated the anomalies in time scale pay grades between armed forces officers and the IPS, which had remain unresolved since 1986, when the congress government had reduced the basic pay of armed forces officers relative to police officers by deducting 'rank-pay' from the basic-pay. The 7CPC decision on pay grades for the armed forces were called blatantly 'discriminatory' by former Chief of Indian Army General Ved P Malik, who said the intent was to degrade armed forces ranks in comparison with police time scale ranks.

Non Functional Upgradation (NFU) for police officers and others

Sanction of OROP at apex scale to all civil services and police officers was accompanied by grant of "Non Functional Upgrade" also called "non-functional financial up-gradation" to all civil services including the Indian Police Service by the Congress led United Progressive Alliance Government, in 2008, to reward civil servants of 49 'Organized Central Group A Services', with automatic time bound pay promotions till the Higher Administrative Grade, a grade equated by Government with Lt Generals, Vice Admirals, and Air Marshals of Armed Forces.
The exclusion of Armed Forces officers corps from the NFU, despite representation by the Chief of Staff, adversely impacted the pay and pension structures of colonels, brigadier and generals, and their equivalents in the navy and the air-force; like OROP it become an emotive 'honor' issue; and, according to former senior military commanders, has had a corrosive impact on the Armed Forces morale, status, cohesion, and national security,

Up Graduation of heads of Central and State Police Forces

In addition to NFU, Apex OROP for police and civil servants, the UPA Government, in 2008, in recognition of the growing influence of Indian Police service in Ministry of Home, India's Interior Ministry, promoted the heads of the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, and even of the smaller MHA Forces, like the Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force and Sashastra Seema Bal, The Railway Police, an IG level post, to the highest grade pay, or the apex scale, with pay scale of Rs.80,000. In addition, the Government upgraded heads of Police in all states, small or large, to Director General level to the highest grade pay, or the apex scale of Rs 80,000. This increased the number of IPS officers with several dozen, and made the Director Generals of these Central and state Forces at par in rank, pay, and status with Armed Forces senior most Lieutenant Generals, Air Marshals and Vice Admirals. The only MHA Armed Forces left out from up gradation to the higher grades was the Assam rifles, which is headed by an army Lt General, and the National Security Guard, which has a sizable army component.
The immediate effect of these changes was that many IPS officers were immediately made senior in pay grade. 'Non-functional financial up-gradation' was not extended to Armed Forces.

Asymmetries in time scale pay, pension, and allowances

The United Progressive Alliance Government headed by Manmohan Singh, following the recommendations of the sixth pay commission, mandated with effect from 01.09.2008 six time scale pay grade promotions on completion of 4, 9, 13, 14, 16/18 years of service for all officers in civil services including defense civilian officers in the MOD responsible for providing secretarial, and logistic support to the armed forces, and police officers including custom, revenue, railway, and industrial police. In comparison with six time-scale pay upgrades-promotions for the police, and defence civilian officers, the government approved three time scale pay upgrade-promotions for armed forces officers on completion of 2, 6, and 13 years of service, and at a far lower scale.
Civil -Police- Military Officers Timescale promotions-pay grades
Asymmetries in time scale pay-grades for civil-police-and the armed forces officers as result of government decision in 2008 are tabulated below:
Number of years of serviceTime scale Civil services promotion-pay gradeTime scale Police promotion-pay grade Time scale Armed Forces promotion-pay grades Difference in grade payComments
0540054005400--
2-----
4660066006100500-
6--6600--
97600760066001000-
13870087008000700The UPA Government, without assigning any reason, fixed the grade-pay of Armed Forces officers with 13 years service at Rs 7600, the same as police officers and defence civilian officers with 9 years service, even though armed forces officers had in the past enjoyed a two-year edge at this service level. Following forceful intervention by Adm Sureesh Mehta, Chief of the Naval Staff, the government agreed to increase the grade pay of officers with 13 years service to Rs 8000, Rs 700 less than that for similarly placed officers from Audit and Account, Police, and customs services. The armed forces however remained disappointed with the grudging concession because it came with demeaning caveats.-
14890089008000900-
1610000-80002000-
18-1000080002000-
21100001000087001300-