OROP Delay a Grave Threat to Nation: 4 Ex-Chiefs Write to Pranab
Denial of OROP has exhausted the Veterans’ patience, former service chiefs to President Mukherjee.
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Raising the stakes against the government on the issue of One Rank One Pension ahead of the 68th Independence Day, four respected and decorated former service chiefs have written to President Pranab Mukherjee requesting his intervention.
General SF Rodrigues (Retd), Admiral L Ramdas (Retd), Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd) and Admiral Sureesh Mehta (Retd) wrote a strong worded letter drawing the President’s attention as the Supreme Commander of the armed forces in India.
The denial of OROP’s implementation has, “the potential to cause immense damage to India’s military edifice and hence, to our National Security” says the letter.
…denial of OROP is merely the last straw that has exhausted the Veterans’ patience. It appears to be the culmination of a process by which successive Pay Commissions have been used to whittle down the financial and protocol status of the military over the years vis-à-vis their civilian counterparts.
The letter states that the decline in the status of military in India “has been orchestrated” to make it “subservient to the bureaucracy.”
[...] there does not seem to be adequate realisation that this development has the potential for inflicting long-term damage to India’s proud and a-political military ethos. […] the recent developments have not only triggered a process of politicization of the Indian military, […] but also served to inflict grave damage on its morale and self-esteem.”
The letter further warns of severe damage to the 350-year-old tradition of officer-jawan relationship.
[…] there is a growing feeling in the rank and file that the senior armed forces leadership has not done enough to pursue their cause. An erosion of confidence such as this could inflict severe damage on the officer-jawan relationship.
You can read the full letter here.