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A group of ex-servicemen stages a demonstration to press for One Rank One Pension in Varanasi yesterday.
IANS/New Delhi
A protest by former soldiers demanding One Rank One Pension (OROP) entered its 78th day yesterday, as a group of veterans vented their anger on Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, blaming him for the non-implementation of the scheme.
Jaitley yesterday ruled out annual revision of pensions under OROP, one of the points of contention between the government and the veterans.
The minister told television channel ET Now that annual revision in pensions does not happen anywhere in the world, and that while the government was committed to OROP, the “only difficulty” was the “arithmetical translation.”
“I have been very vigilant about fiscal prudence and therefore my job is really that of a housewife in the sense that you must measure every rupee that the house spends so that you don’t overspend and then borrow and if you start borrowing beyond a point and indulge in fiscal indiscipline,” Jaitley said.
The minister said the definition of OROP may vary.
“I have my own formula on what OROP means. Somebody else may have their own formula on OROP but it has to be within reasonable and rational criteria. You can’t have an OROP where pensions are revised every month or every year,” he said.
In an open letter released yesterday, the veterans slammed the finance minister for his comments and questioned how his definition can be different from that of parliament and the Supreme Court.
“Mr Arun Jaitley has had the temerity of questioning the very definition of OROP as accepted by parliaments thrice over and pulled up by the Supreme Court of India.
“It would be interesting to note that the defence ministry which is the nodal point for all matters relating to the defence forces has completed all the calculations and permutations to the last detail and submitted to the finance ministry as far back as March 17 this year,” said the open letter sent by United Ex-Servicemen Front.
Earlier yesterday, former Bharatiya Janata Party member Ram Jethmalani met the veterans at Jantar Mantar and launched a sharp attack on Jaitley.
Jethmalani said the finance minister was an “enemy” of the veterans as well as the nation.
There are no comments.
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