The struggle for the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme,
that seeks equity in the payment of pensions to ex-servicemen, has been going
on for years. At the fag end of its term, UPA II made a sleight of hand and
granted this demand by making a token Budget allocation. The BJP, as a
political party during elections, and Narendra Modi, as prime ministerial
candidate and then as the Prime Minister, made voluminous promises of
implementing OROP. But, when the veterans felt that Prime Minister Modi and the
government he heads were reneging on this commitment, citing some difficulties
in its ‘arithmetical translation’, they rose up as one man and went on the
warpath with rallies and protests all over the country. Volunteers among them
sat on a chain dharna at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.
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