Saturday, October 24, 2015
Friday, October 16, 2015
ONE RANK ONE PENSION – #OROP
ONE RANK ONE PENSION – #OROP
Agitation at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi and various other places in the country, by it’s veterans in demand for the implementation of OROP and yet many of us don’t even know what it is all about.
OROP was the basis for determining the pension and benefits of the Indian Armed Forces till 1973, when it was terminated by the Ministry of Defence (MOD) under the tenure of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It ensured same pension, for the same rank, for the same length of service, irrespective of the date of retirement. But it all changed that year, with not only the termination of OROP, but also a drastic decrease in the pension of the soldiers of the Indian Armed Forces from 70 percent, to just 37 percent of the last pay drawn. Against the background of the demand of the veterans to implement the OROP for four decades, the UPA Government in 2008 under the leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, disregarded their plea, and rather granted OROP to the present and future civil servants, in perpetuity, at the apex pay grade (Rs 80,000), the highest pay grade in the government, at which a majority of the central civil services of the Indian Government retire. It included civilian officers in the MOD, responsible for providing secretarial, logistic, and rear area services to the Armed Forces. In contrast, only a fraction of one percent of the Armed Forces officers was provided coverage under the scheme.
In May 2014, the Indian National Congress (INC) led UPA Government was replaced by the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) led NDA Government. Both the parties, had on several occasions committed to implement OROP. It was an integral part of the election manifestos of both the INC and BJP. The current Prime Minister Narendra Modi who was then the PM candidate from BJP, had made Armed Forces issues, including the implementation of OROP, an election rallying call. All this was done to garner the support of the Armed Forces and the veterans.
Ever since assuming office, the BJP leadership has continued to make pledges and promised in support of OROP, but no actual decisions have been made and it hasn’t been implemented yet. This led to the veterans starting nationwide protests on 15 June 2015. On 5 Sep 2015, after 83 days of public protest, which included hunger strike and assault by Delhi Police on the protesting veterans, the NDA Government announced, unilaterally, the implementation of the ‘OROP Scheme for Armed Forces’. However, it was greeted with dismay and disappointment. The veterans have denounced the ‘OROP-2015’, saying that it is not the correct version of OROP, and hence, unacceptable. The protest is still going on, and has garnered a larger support ever since.
REASONS WHY THE VETERANS ARE UNHAPPY WITH THE CURRENT FORMAT OF OROP AS ANNOUNCED BY THE DEFENCE MINISTER
- Base year for implementation of OROP was decided to be FY 2013-14, but in the announcement it was changed to calendar year 2013. This will completely ruin the definition of OROP by creating a divide between pensioners’ past and present, destroying the soul of OROP.
- Date of implementation agreed to was 01 Apr 2014, which has been pushed forward to 01 Jul 2014. This will benefit the govt. by 2100 crore rupees and a loss to the Ex-Service Men (ESM) by the same amount.
- Rationalization of pensions being insisted upon by the govt. is once in five years instead of annually. This will destroy the complete definition of OROP. This step will make it One Rank Five Pensions instead of One Rank One Pension.
- The government has approved a one-man judicial commission to study the anomalies and make recommendations. United Front Ex Servicemen Movement (UFESM) does not accept a one man commission and instead demands a five member commission composed of three Ex-servicemen, one serving officer and one bureaucrat.
- The government has created avoidable confusion by including VRS (Voluntary Retirement Scheme) in its announcement. However, VRS does not exist in Armed Forces, but in Civil Service and Public Sector Units with surplus manpower. This move of the government is against the law, and if forced, we hold the right to exercise the legal option in the Honorable Supreme Court of India, where we thank Mr Ram Jethmalani as he has agreed to represent our case.
- The government has proposed the fixation of pension as the mean average of the pay band instead of the top level (as decided earlier). This defeats the basic ethos of a structured and a hierarchical organization.
- The veterans demand that the OROP be independent of the Central Pay Commission (CPC) and the concept should be in perpetuity. This is because, once adopted by the Parliament, No CPC or any other such commission has the authority to adjudicate.
NOTE: Points 1-4 were the only points discussed between the veterans and the government representatives, till as late as 1130 hrs, 05 Sep 2015, the day of the announcement of the government’s proposal for OROP. Points 5-7 were never, at any point of time, discussed with the veterans by the government representatives, till announced at 1430 hrs, 05 Sep 2015. Inclusion of these points came as a complete surprise to the Ex-servicemen.
The Government claims to have announced an expense of Rupees 10,000 crore for OROP. With the restrictions being suggested, it will be spending only 3000 to 4000 crores. This will amount to cheating the Armed Forces personnel and their families of 6000 to 7000 crore rupees. The Honorable Prime Minister claims that OROP will be funded by cutting funds from poor people. This is just misinformation being spread to defame the Ex-servicemen.
PROTEST AT JANTAR MANTAR, NEW DELHI
On 15 June 2015, Ex-servicemen commenced nationwide protests and hunger strikes against the BJP led government for their failure to implement the true version of OROP. The biggest agitation is being help at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi. Veterans, families and friends have come from all over the country to protest. Our veterans have been sitting on hunger strikes. Lately, even the women and children have joined in. There are groups of veterans from a single regiment who are visiting Jantar Mantar and sitting on relay hunger strike. A major reason for this protest was the spreading of falsified information about OROP by the media. Later, the media boycotted the movement, which is disheartening to see, for it is these veterans who gave us the freedom to exercise our right to free speech and journalism. Owing to this, the veterans and their families have taken to social media, to let the country know about the real issue and how the government is shying away from its duties.
ROLE OF SOCIAL MEDIA
Since the big media houses have boycotted OROP or otherwise have been showing falsified information, our Social Media team has taken the onus on itself to make our voices reach to the masses. The social media team is actively participating on every platform for the cause. Today, where there is media, there is also social media. Everyone carries a smart phone or uses a computer. The youth stays connected and updated via social media. Hence we take help of this platform to let the country know of what is our right!
Thursday, October 15, 2015
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
NDTV Pulls Down Former Navy Chief’s ‘Explosive’ Interview
NDTV Pulls Down Former Navy Chief’s ‘Explosive’ Interview
NDTV takes down its interview with Admiral DK Joshi after receiving complaints for defamatory content.
After subjecting its viewers to incompetent reporting during the Kashmir floods and mawkish coverage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US, NDTV finally got an interview worth going to town with. Unfortunately, they have had to pull the story down from their website. We have a statement from Editorial Director of NDTV, Sonia Singh, on the reason, but first the background.
The story in question is a particularly explosive interview that Nitin Gokhale, NDTV’sSecurity and Strategic Affairs Editor, conducted with former Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi in which he launched a scathing attack on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime and on the media for misreporting.
An excerpt of the interview in which the ex-naval chief slams the UPA is still up on NDTV’swebsite as a segment in Group Editor Barkha Dutt’s show, The Buck Stops Here.
However, subsequent parts in which he indicts the media for trashy reporting have been removed from the channel’s website along with the complete interview altogether.
This was the first interview the former naval chief gave to a media house after resigning in February 2014, owning “moral responsibility” following a fire incident aboard INS Sindhurakshak. In the beginning of the interview, Admiral Joshi, in a severe comment on the MoD under the UPA, stated that he was “amused” at the haste with which his resignation was accepted. He said his immediate reason for quitting was the dysfunctional and inefficient model with which the armed forces have been burdened. Urging for reforms in higher defence management, he also stated that authority must rest with those who are accountable, that is men in the service and not the ministry.
This part of the interview was excerpted and aired first on the prime-time show The Buck Stops Here under a segment titled – “Accountability minus authority: Ex-Navy Chief’s explosive disclosures”. But the complete interview with more telling remarks on the media was carried a day later on October 15, and it got Twitter talking when the complete transcript along with the video of the interview was uploaded on Thursday morning.
Without mincing any words, Admiral Joshi stated that the media gave into sensationalism while reporting on issues, including the Sindhurakshak mishap. As examples he talked about a newspaper that “invented the coup theory” and followed it by saying “…this reporter was darling of the foreign vendors, and to show his importance he would author articles like the reporter is in country abc at the invitation of xyz”.
He spoke in detail of other papers that misreport and so-called defence correspondents who lack basic knowledge and pretty much pass off blatant lies as news reports. Within a day of the Admiral’s statements making waves on social media, NDTV removed the complete interview from its website. This, of course, only got more people talking about the interview and why the channel would remove it.
Meanwhile, when asked on Twitter about the interview being taken down, Dutt seemed ignorant about it being removed and pointed to her show that focused on the admiral’s criticism of UPA.
We tried getting in touch with Nitin Gokhale to know if there were any specific reasons for removing the interview. He asked us to check with Editorial Director Sonia Singh and Barkha Dutt.
We then sent an email to Singh asking her if there was any specific reason for taking down the interview and whether Admiral Joshi’s severe criticism of certain journalists had anything to do with the channel removing the interview – considering that one of the bylines on the “coup” story was that of journalist Shekhar Gupta who is all set to start a new season of Walk The Talk on NDTV. Singh without going into much detail replied: “We received a complaint regarding potential defamatory content in the interview, which is why it has been taken down. Our legal department is having a look and we will take a call after that.”
Considering Dutt’s show, that focused on the UPA-bashing part of the interview, is still very much there on the website, it is fair to assume the complaint for defamatory content could not have come from anyone in the UPA. And since the rest of the interview has Admiral Joshi mostly raging against journalists, it is possible and probable the complaint has come from one of the media people he has accused of careless reporting.
Meanwhile, we will keep you updated on what NDTV’s legal team decides to do with the interview — take it down forever or put it back up on the website. And for those of you who missed the interview, fret not. The Admiral’s interview has popped up on YouTube and you can watch it here. Thank you, ‘appy (@janonymous14) for alerting us.
https://youtu.be/kurE1XHgYAE
https://youtu.be/kurE1XHgYAE
‘Arun Jaitley told us that NDA’s promise on OROP was only meant to win elections,’ reveals Maj Gen Satbir Singh
Exclusive: ‘Arun Jaitley told us that NDA’s promise on OROP was only meant to win elections,’ reveals Maj Gen Satbir Singh
Rifat Jawaid
The chairman of the ex-servicemen movement, Maj Gen(Retd) Satbir Singh, who’s been spearheading the soldiers’ fight for the implementation of One Rank One Pension has revealed that the Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley had told them the BJP’s poll promises to soldiers were just electioneering tactics and ‘never meant to be honoured.’
Speaking exclusively to jantakareporter.com, Gen Singh said, “One thing I have learnt that what any of these politicians say are never meant to be believed. That’s the rule number one in India. Mr Jaitley when he was the defence minister, had told me, ‘why don’t you lower your expectations?’
“We told him that the OROP had only one definition. It had only one calculation. It had only one implication. We reminded him that this was in their election manifesto. To which he said, ‘You see General, all the assurances that politicians give during elections are not meant to be executed.’ What a shameful thing for him to say in front of ten of us. If a responsible minister says this then I have no faith in the political system.”
Also Read: Exclusive: Narendra Modi has betrayed the very trust of us soldiers: Army General on OROP
The armed forces veteran said he was extremely unhappy with the media fraternity for deliberately spreading misinformation to make the central government look good. He alleged that the media had ‘sold their souls’ by their false reporting that the central government had settled the veterans’ demand on the OROP.
He said, “Media is lying and spreading false information on OROP. They have no sense of journalism. If everything is settled, then where is the notification? Where is the letter? So, for media to say that everything is settled is diabolically stupid. If the journalism has gone shallow in the country, if the media is all purchased and bought and they have no character, then that’s how media starts spreading misinformation. Because somebody including the government pays them and controls them. But whether the media cover our agitation or not, we are continuing with best of our determination.”
Singh also said that one of the national newspapers had even refused to carry the advertisements paid for by the ex-servicemen. He lost his cool while recounting that experience.
“Times of India refused to carry our advertisement. I have decided not to request the members of India media. One day when they chase me for interviews, I will tell them to get out of my sight. I don’t want to see your faces.”Gen Singh, who had earlier accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ‘betraying the very trust of Indian soldiers’ attacked him once again. He said he was surprised that the prime minister, his cabinet colleagues and ‘everybody else’ had time to ‘hold talks with terrorists to broker peace with them’ but they ‘cannot talk to their ‘erstwhile soldiers.’
“Can there be bigger shame than this? ” he asked.
On being asked why he had not sought help from political parties or leaders who sympathised with their cause, Gen Singh said he welcomed support from everybody regardless of the political ideologies they believed in. He, however said that the ex-servicemen will not give them the platform to ‘highjack’ their agenda.
He said, “I welcome support from everybody regardless of political parties they represent. Whether they are Rahul Gandhi, Arvind Kejriwal or anybody else, they must realise that we can’t allow them to use our mic to highjack our agenda. They are most welcome to come and sit and express their support to our cause. We didn’t allow Rahul Gandhi to speak, neither did we allow Derek O’Brian of TMC or Bhupendra Hooda of Congress.”
The army veteran also revealed that the organisers of the NRI event for PM Modi had approached him to speak from the same stage where the prime minister was scheduled to speak, but he refused because he didn’t ant to insult the Indian prime minister.
He said, “When our prime minister visited USA recently, the chairman of the NRIs group in San Francisco, some chap called Jit Bajwa, wanted me to come along with the prime minister and speak from the same stage from where Mr Modi was likely to speak. They said they wanted to give us a cheque of 1 million dollar for this agitation. I refused both. I said this was my internal matter and I will resolve within my own country. I will not insult India on foreign soil. We’ve been honourable in our fight. Can the government of India reciprocate by honouring their commitment?”
Gen Singh said there were seven shortccomings in the OROP that the Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar had announced on 5 September. He said the OROP with those shortcomings will not be acceptable to soldiers.
” If those shortcomings are not removed and government goes ahead with the notification, it will kill the very definition of One Rank One Pension. It will then be called One Rank Five Pension. Because same years of service and same rank going to be reviewed after five years would mean that there will be five pensions. These politicians and babus so illiterate that they don’t even know that the armed forces don’t have the VRS. We have the premature retirement, which is the requirement of the government. They want to have a young army. Therefore, the soldiers have to leave after 17 years in service.”
Indian armed forces veterans have been protesting at Delhi Jantar Mantar for last 121 says with several ex-servicemen and their wives taking part in relay hunger strikes.
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