Government Announces One Rank One Pension Scheme for Ex-Servicemen

Government Announces One Rank One Pension Scheme for Ex-Servicemen 

The Government has announced the One Rank One Pension scheme for the Ex-Servicemen. This was announced by the Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar here today. The following is the statement of the Defence Minister:

“Government of India respects its Defence Forces and Ex-Servicemen for their valour, patriotism and sacrifices. The Government is proud of their devotion to duty and bravery. Our forces, besides vigilantly and gallantly defending the nation, have displayed exemplary standards of courage and bravery in natural calamities, law and order situations and other difficult circumstances.

The issue of “One Rank One Pension” (OROP) has been pending for nearly four decades. It is a matter of deep anguish that the various governments remained ambivalent on the issue of OROP. In February 2014, the then Government stated that OROP would be implemented in 2014-15, but did not specify what OROP would be, how it would be implemented or how much it would cost. An estimated Rs. 500 crore provided for OROP in the budget presented in February 2014 by the then government was not based on any thorough analysis. It is pertinent to mention that the then Minister of State for Defence in 2009 had, in reply to a question, informed Parliament that there are administrative, technical and financial difficulties in implementing OROP. It is for these reasons that the present government took some time to fulfil its promise.

Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi has, on various occasions, reiterated the Government’s commitment to implement OROP for Ex-Servicemen under military pension. As stated above, the previous government has estimated that OROP would be implemented with a budget provision of a mere Rs. 500 crore. The reality, however, is that to implement OROP, the estimated cost to the exchequer would be Rs. 8,000 to 10,000 crore at present, and will increase further in future.

The Government held extensive consultations with experts and Ex-Servicemen. The main argument for OROP is that the Defence personnel retire early and thus are not able to get the benefits of serving till normal retirement age. Despite the huge fiscal burden, given its commitment to the welfare of Ex-Servicemen, the Government has taken a decision to implement the OROP.

In simple terms, OROP implies that uniform pension be paid to the Armed Forces personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of their date of retirement. Future enhancements in the rates of pension would be automatically passed on to the past pensioners. This implies bridging the gap between the rate of pension of current and past pensioners at periodic intervals.

Under this definition, it has been decided that the gap between rate of pension of current pensioners and past pensioners will be bridged every 5 years.

Under the OROP Scheme:
The benefit will be given with effect from 1st July, 2014. The present government assumed office on 26th May, 2014 and therefore, it has been decided to make the scheme effective from a date immediately after.
Arrears will be paid in four half-yearly instalments. All widows, including war widows, will be paid arrears in one instalment.

To begin with, OROP would be fixed on the basis of calendar year 2013.

Pension will be re-fixed for all pensioners retiring in the same rank and with the same length of service as the average of minimum and maximum pension in 2013. Those drawing pensions above the average will be protected.

Personnel who voluntarily retire will not be covered under the OROP scheme.

In future, the pension would be re-fixed every 5 years.

It is estimated that the expenditure on arrears alone would be ten to twelve thousand crores of rupees. Apart from the fact that the previous government had provided for only Rs. 500 crore in the budget, it is noteworthy that the Koshiyari Committee had accepted the estimate of Rs. 235 crore as additional financial burden to implement OROP. The present government has accepted OROP in true spirit without being constrained by these inaccurate estimates.

OROP is a complex issue. A thorough examination of interests of retirees of different periods and different ranks is needed. The inter-service issues of the three Forces also require consideration. This is not an administrative matter alone. Therefore, it has also been decided that a One Member Judicial Committee would be constituted which will give its report in six months.

Prime Minister Shri Modi has fulfilled his commitment and approved OROP for Armed Forces personnel. Ministry of Defence will soon issue detailed Government Order.”


PIB

Trade unions eye Rs 15,000 per month minimum wage as national baseline

Trade unions eye Rs 15,000 per month minimum wage as national baseline
By Subodh Varma, TNN

One of the key issues on which the negotiations between the government and the 10 central trade unions that had called for a general strike on Wednesday broke down was that of minimum wages. A labour ministry document circulated amongst the trade unions days before the strike, argued that by current norms, prices and calorific needs, Rs.6330 per month is the monthly wage adequate for an unskilled worker with a wife and two small children.

The trade unions and various other federations that represent 15 crore workers had demanded Rs.15,000 per month minimum wage as a national level floor wage. Striking a generous posture, the government modestly increased its proposal to Rs.7098 per month.

What the government had proposed was less than half of what was demanded. This was one of the contributory factors to the breakdown of negotiations. Other demands of the workers included social security coverage, non-interference with existing labour laws, etc.

How did the government calculate their proposal? A look at the fine print shows a slew of gross under-estimations and the use of an archaic formula first spelled out way back in 1957. Some of the food items' prices are far from reality. For instance dal is costed at Rs.65 but only one of the various dals in the market - chana or gram dal - comes in this range. Arhar (tur) is Rs.135 per kg, urad is Rs.117.5, masur is Rs.95. All these current retail prices are from the consumer affairs ministry's price monitoring data spanning 81 cities and towns.

Mutton is priced at a bizarre Rs.80 per kg, although it doesn't really matter because only 50 g is allowed. This is convertible to 250 grams of vegetables which are priced at an imaginary Rs.16 per kg. In the real world mutton is selling at anywhere between Rs.300 to Rs.400 per kg. And rarely if any vegetable sells at Rs.16 per kg.

 But the real rub comes in the non-food items. Just Rs.390 is supposed to be spent on rent every month. And, fuel for cooking and utilities like electricity etc. are all supposed to be covered under a meagre Rs.780.

All education, medical expenses, marriages, care of elderly, recreation etc. is lumped together and costed at 25 percent of the food expenditure. This practice started after the Supreme Court in a landmark judgement in 1991 directed as much saying that if such a minimum wage cannot be guaranteed then the managements have no right to run their business. But even this works out to a mere Rs.980 per month.

Costs of education and healthcare have risen tremendously in the past several years and even one major episode of sickness in the family would be devastating. The government's wage calculation seems to be blissfully unaware of this.

Recent government data shows that real wages, that is, after adjusting for inflation are dipping while the share of wages to profits is also dipping in the organized sector. In the unorganized sector which employs over 90 percent of India's workforce, wages are abysmally low and conditions of work onerous. Small wonder then that the trade unions were unwilling to accept the government's proposals.


Source : The Economic Times

Out of 12 Central Trade Unions, Seven Unions went on strike – PIB Report

Out of 12 Central Trade Unions, Seven Unions went on strike – PIB Report

Press Information Bureau
Government of India
Ministry of Labour & Employment

02-September-2015 19:09 IST

Normal Life not Affected by Labour Unions’ Strike

Government Committed to Ensure Welfare of Workers

The impact of the strike call given by some of the Central Trade Unions has not been felt much in the most parts of the country as per information received from all over the country.

The situation remained, by and large, normal and peaceful across the country. Most of the employees attended their offices. Trains, buses, auto rickshaws, lorries plied as usual. There has been minimal effect in banking, coal, major ports & defence production units. The essential services functioned more or less normally.

The Inter-Ministerial Committee constituted by the Prime Minister had held several rounds of meetings with the representatives of Central Trade Unions to discuss their demands. The Government is positive on many of their demands without any pressure and expressed its commitment to ensure the welfare of workers.

Out of 12 Central Trade Unions, two Unions did not join the strike, three Unions remained neutral and seven Unions went on strike. It indicates that the workers want to settle their demands through the dialogue and discussion.

The workers are in agreement with the Government and are looking forward to positive steps taken by the Government on nine of their twelve demands which will be met as per their aspirations.

Source: PIB News

Jammu and Kashmir government women employees can now get 2-years child care leave

Jammu and Kashmir government women employees can now get 2-years child care leave

Srinagar: In a major welfare measure for women employees in Jammu and Kashmir, the state government today approved Child Care leave for them for a period of two years to look after their children.

The Government issued a notification allowing the Child Care leave for its women employees. As per the new provision, a women employee can avail a maximum period of 730 days of child care leave during her entire service for taking care of her two eldest children, an official spokesman said.

He said the leave can be taken to look after the children’s education, illness and other similar requirements. The spokesman said after approval by Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, the Finance Department has issued the notification incorporating the child care leave in the Jammu and Kashmir Civil Services (Leave) Rules.

During the period of child care leave, a woman employee shall be paid leave salary equal to pay drawn immediately before proceeding on leave and the child care leave can be combined with any other kind of leave, the spokesman said.

However, the leave shall not be granted for more than three spells in a calendar year, he said. The spokesman said though child care leave can be claimed only after completion of probation period by the employee, yet as a humanitarian gesture, some minimum child care leave can be allowed to a probationer in certain extreme circumstances.

The present PDP-BJP coalition Government in its first budget had announced that the child care leave shall be introduced in the State Leave Rules so that the difficulties faced by working mothers is resolved and women employees get this benefit at par with Central Government employees.

PTI

One Rank-One Pension (OROP) formula has since been implemented or not..? Question raised today in Parliament

One Rank-One Pension (OROP) formula has since been implemented or not..? Question raised today in Parliament

Whether Government’s decision to grant pension to the retired personnel of the Defence Forces as per “One Rank-One Pension (OROP)” formula has since been implemented

If not, the reasons for the delay; and

By when this scheme is likely to be implemented? these questions asked by the Hon’ble Member Shri Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa in Parliament today and the Minister of Defence Shri Manohar Parrikar replied as follows…

“The principle of One Rank One Pension for the Armed Forces has been accepted by the Government. The modalities for implementation were discussed with various stakeholders and are presently under consideration of the Government. It will be implemented once the modalities are approved by the Government”.