OROP: the Road Ahead, it may Never Come in the Classical Concept.

The Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi has recently tweeted that he was concerned about sanction of OROP and and he was clear that OROP will be approved. He also is reportedly to have said that he was in "discussion" with all the stake holders and trying to reach a general consensus " acceptable to all" .  Some where the Narendra Modi also said the government was in power for 5 years and OROP was sure to come.

The statement of Modi  is just an eye wash. Let me tell my fiends of a real time episode. One Captain Bhagat Singh who had joined the British Indian army in 1944 and saw action in Burma  had retired long back. He was getting a meagre pension and he looked forward to sanction of OROP, as it would be a boon to him. He waited and waited for 20 years and passed away last year at the age of 92, OROP never reached him. The man is my  uncle and I am constrained to say that this inexplicable delay is nothing short of a criminal act by the government and I just do not only include Modi alone in this band. All the previous governments from Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Manmohan Singh have their hands soiled in this entire episode of sanction of OROP.

Now coming to Modi, one can realize he is a past master of twisting words and assurances. His culpability is much greater as he was the first man to comment and  assure repeatedly that One Rank One Pension is on the anvil of sanction. Frankly nobody told him to make these grandiose announcements, yet he made them as he was desperate to come to power and he assumed that a committed vote bank of ex -serviceman will help him get a majority in parliament. His game was simple, he wanted power and so did the BJP the party that he is a member off. So in no holds barred campaign one of the issues taken up was OROP. Frankly when Modi was making these announcements, he was not aware of the cost to the exchequer   and later when the cost was worked out he looked for a way to avoid sanction.

The Indian budget is gigantic. It is the 8th largest economy in the world and reports are clear that politicians have swindled 40,000 to 50,000 crores in the various scams. i am yet to see a single man or woman yet jailed for this gigantic theft.  Yet Modi talks of ( aided by that man with very little horizon,Arun Jaitley)of  extraneous things like " complex question." " stake holders " and what not. He has swallowed the line of the Bureaucracy and the finance minister Arun Jaitley  hook line and sinker. But mind you, he is not a gullible man and knows his onions. He has willingly accepted the arguments of the Bureaucracy and Arun Jaitley  as he feels that somewhere he must extricate himself from sanction of OROP. hence all he  has are words and words of which he is very adept.

I make it clear to friends he is buying time  and that is the reason he has mentioned that this government will be in power for 5 years. It shows he has a 5 year plan and in the meantime many thousands of old pensioners will pass away. Modi is not concerned with that at all and his game is to stretch this sanction as far as possible and once the next pay commission is around the corner he will just wash his hands away. His words and assurances should never be taken at face value.

The question arises what next? We have men like the CNS  Robin Dhawan announcing that ex servicemen should have patience. Heck what more patience does he want. Is 20 years not enough ?.I maintain that the top brass of the military have done precious little and left a hard working man like General Satbir Singh to bear the cross of fighting for OROP. In my view this is criminal neglect.

I would also caution the ex servicemen about returning medals and signing petitions. They are not worth the effort. The big stumbling block are the 3 chiefs led by the COAS. These men are known to the government as men of clay. In fact right from the time of General Cariappa when the demotion from Cin C to COAS was carried out the service chiefs have no say and they have put themselves in a bind. One fails to understand how an army chief heading the most organized force in the country has no say.

Water finds its own level and I am sure that the present lot of  serving soldiers wont be happy with this development. Most of them have strong and long ties for decades with the services. many of the parents/ relations  are ex servicemen. Modi has not realised that this non sanction  can adversely affect the morale of the army. Mouthing words and cliches is not the best thing to do.

The ex servicemen should look for political support and Rahul Gandhi looks a sincere man now. In fact Chidambaram the then finance minister included OROP at his behest.  Give him credit and Modi ? less said the better.
There is a need to bring media and others into the picture and educate the masses on the perils of a demoralized fighting force. Put pressure on the Armh Chief General Dibagh Singh to act. Why can't this man resign and show his displeasure? OROP will come immediately.

OROP is in Cold Storage Literally: FM skirts the Issue.

As expected the union budget has been presented. Generally the pundits are feeling it’s a good budget, but that is not what will interest the ex-serviceman who has slogged for the Indian nation.  The budget is silent on One Rank One Pension and as reported by Indian express all the FM said is that he is "committed" to sanction OROP once the dispute on interpretation of OROP is sorted out between the forces and the Ministry of Defense.

This is very sad as it skirts the issue completely. The interpretation of OROP is accepted by 2 parliaments and yet the Finance Minister talks of ‘dispute" and "interpretation". Obviously he is skirting the issue and taking refuge in some bland statements which are in fact tantamount to lies. It is so sad that a BJP government that came to power under Modi on a plank of One Rank One Pension is now talking of "resolving” some issue between the MOD and the forces. Frankly this is a ploy to bypass the sanction of OROP and shows that the BJP is not to be trusted. I wonder what happened to the promise by the Defense Minister Mr. Parrikar that OROP would be considered as Military pay and sanctioned immediately.

The Indian state has scant respect for men who wear the uniform. As things stand the government will allow this year to pass and I don't think any good will come in the coming years. The government is testing the patience of the soldier and hoping that as many as possible old pensioners die so the liability is reduced. This shows the warped mind of this government and it seems despite the slap in the Delhi election, the BJP has leant nothing.

Hemingway wrote " For whom the Bell Tolls". Has the BJP considered this? Frankly one cannot blame the BJP alone as all other party's on the political spectrum are equally responsible. After all the Congress and the UPA sat on this demand for 10 years. Maybe the NDA and BJP will sit on it for another 5 years at least. I wonder what stops him exerting himself.

A major lacuna is the complete abdication of responsibility by the General Staff\. The COAS is unable to exert himself, which is hard to reconcile as the army is the biggest stake holder in the unity of India. Not forgetting he heads the biggest organized force in the country. I wonder what stops him. It is food for thought that one army chief could go to the Supreme Court on a trivial matter of his age, so he could get an extension, but not for OROP.