No. 1(1)/2019/ D(Pen/Pol)
Government of India
Ministry of Defence
Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare

Sena Bhawan, New Delhi,
Dated, the 4th January, 2023

To

The Chief of Defence Staff
The Chief of Army Staff
The Chief of Naval Staff
The Chief of Air Staff

Subject: Next revision of pension of Defence Forces Personnel/ family pensioner under One Rank One Pension (OROP)

Sir,
The undersigned is directed to refer to the provisions contained in para 3(v) of this Ministry’s letter No. 12(1)/2014/D (Pen/Pol)-Part-Il dated 7.11.2015 regarding re-fixation of pension of Defence Forces Personnel under OROP in future every 5 years.

2. The President is pleased to decide that next revision of pension under OROP Scheme would be effective from 1.7.2019. Revision of pension is based on the principles adopted in MoD letter dated 07.11.2015 which are as under:

• 2.1. Pension of the past pensioners would be re-fixed on the basis of pension of Defence Forces retirees of calendar year 2018 and the benefit will be effective from 01.07.2019.
• 2.2. Pension will be re-fixed for eligible Defence Forces pensioners/family pensioners on the basis of the average of minimum and maximum pension of Defence Forces Personnel retired in calendar year 2018 in the same rank and with the same length of service.
• 2.3. Pension for those drawing above the average shall be protected.
• 2.4. The benefit would also be extended to family pensioners including war widows and disabled pensioners.
• 25. Arrears will be paid in four half yearly instalments. However, all the family pensioners including those in receipt of Special/ Liberalized Family Pension and Gallantry Award Winners shall be paid arrears in one instalment.
• 2.6. Personnel who opt to get discharged w.e.f. 01.07.2014 (on or after 01.07.2014) on their own request under Rule 13(3)i(i)(b), 13(3)II(i)(b), 13(3)II(iv) or Rule 16B of the Army Rule 1954 or equivalent Navy or Air Force Rules will not be entitled to the benefits of OROP.

3. Detailed instructions along with tables for revision of pension for each rank and each category under OROP Scheme, shall be issued separately.

4. This issues with the concurrence of Finance Division of this Ministry vide their ID Note No. 10(01)/2019/Fin/ Pen dated 30.12.2022.

5. Hindi version will follow.

Yours faithfully,

(B.L Meena)
Under Secretary to the Govt. of India

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Minutes of Virtual TSEWA Core Committee Meeting held at 1000 hrs on 27 March 2021

The following members attended:

1. Brig CS Vidyasagar President, in Chair
2. Cmde Sudheer Parakala Vice President
3. Col Dr GB Sethi General Secretary
4. Lt Col G Parvathesam Treasurer
5. Hony Capt B Joseph Joint Secretary
6. Brig SKS Rana, VSM President, TSEWA (Legal)
7. Col Srikatha Seshadri President, TSEWA (Karnataka)
8. Maj Gen SN Mukherjee President, TSEWA (WB)
9. WO Thiruchelvam President, TSEWA (Tamilnadu)
10. Cmde Kuldip Sandhu President, TSEWA (Mumbai Metro)
11. Cmde Ashok Kota Member
12. Lt Col Dr. K Bhaskar Reddy Member
13. Maj Dr. B Bhikshapathy Member

The President welcomed all present in the meeting and thanked them for their efforts to attend the virtual meeting. He requested the General Secretary to commence the proceedings.

Points of Discussion

Item No. I – OROP Case: The General Secretary informed that TSEWA has received a reply from the Min of Defence on 18 March 2020, to our letter dated 24 Nov 2020. The reply was a typical bureaucratic one which said that OMJC Report was submitted by Justice L Narasimha Reddy on 26 Oct 2016 and that it was referred to the committee for detailed examination. He requested the Core Committee to consider sending a letter to Hon’ble Justice Dr. Chandrachud of the Supreme Court to deliver the judgement in the OROP case filed by IESM at the earliest, with a copy to the three Service Chiefs, RM, FM, PM, and the President of India. He further informed that the case filed by IESM was listed on 24 Mar 2021 but no arguments were done due to paucity of time and other urgent cases. The next date of hearing is 07 Apr 2021.

Decision. It was decided that the matter be left with the President Legal Division to pursue the case.

Item No. II – Filing of Cases in AFT Mumbai: The General Secretary informed that the rates quoted by Shri YP Singh to take up TSEWA cases in Mumbai AFT are too high. Cmde KS Sandhu informed that he has explained to Advocate Shri YP Singh, about the details of fees being paid by TSEWA for AFT Cases filed in other courts. Brig SKS Rana, VSM, President, Legal Division interacted with him and found him to be quite knowledgeable.
Decision. It was decided that the President Legal Division pursue the matter with Shri YP Singh and finalise the rates and terms and conditions.

Item No. III – TSEWA Madhuri Sewa Fund: Brig SKS Rana, VSM has expressed his serious concern about the way TSEWA is working to utilize the Madhuri Sewa Fund to help civilian students instead of trying to help ESM Children. He has expressed that General Secretary should not have permitted misuse of the TSEWA platform by Col Nagesh Gupta for promoting the Madhuri Sewa Fund created in memory of his wife.

General Secretary informed that he is in no way involved in the Charity Activities performed by TSEWA Charity Division headed by Cmde Sudheer Parakala. Further, he explained how the clause of charity for Civilians was thrust by the IT Commissioner at the time of granting exemption under Section 12 A. However, he expressed his concern that students from only one College viz: Railway Degree College, Secunderabad were beneficiaries and other colleges were not considered.

Cmde Sudheer Parakala, Chairman of, Charity Division has explained that Col Nagesh Gupta is a 94-year-old veteran, staying in US, and has requested TSEWA to help him in finding suitable meritorious students at the earliest to utilize Madhuri Sewa Fund. He explained that a detailed mail was sent to TSEWA State Presidents to send the recommendations but in the absence of any recommendations, civilian children from Railway Degree College, Secunderabad were considered as recommended by Dr. Bhashyam, Principal who is related to Lt Col G Parvathesam. He reiterated that there was no favouritism and that the beneficiaries really deserved financial assistance. He also emphasized that all recommendations made by State Presidents should follow the checklist/Guidelines circulated a number of times before sending the recommendations since the cases are examined by IT Officials.

Lt Col G Parvathesam clarified further that the students identified are from four different colleges and not from a single college. Due to the prevailing pandemic conditions, we could not ascertain the economic condition of the students by physical verification at their residences. He assured the Core Committee that the students were from a very poor background and essentially needed urgent help to pay the college fees.

Cmde Kuldip Singh Sandhu, President, Mumbai Metro, TSEWA elucidated at length the method of charity and appreciated that Charity Div approved and helped a divorced daughter of a DAD employee whom he recommended. He further suggested TSEWA should be more flexible and respect the wishes of a donor who wants to help out somebody. As long as poor and meritorious children get financial assistance, it should not matter whether they are from school / college or different schools / colleges. That should be acceptable to all. The credit for such help goes to TSEWA and in the future, more and more donors will send their contributions to TSEWA. TSEWA he further added is respected by many veterans for the good work being done.

Brig CS Vidyasagar appreciated the efforts of the Charity Division of TSEWA for providing selfless services and in identifying and helping the poor students. He explained the need of considering the wishes of donors as long as it does not interfere with the functioning of TSEWA. He further added that all TSEWA executives are serving the organization devotedly and there is no scope of doubting their integrity and selfless services.

Item No. IV – Receipt of Donation by TSEWA: Maj Gen SN Mukherjee, President, TSEWA, West Bengal suggested that the donations from the donors should be received by TSEWA to extend the facility of Tax exemption to the donors. TSEWA should not ask the donors to deposit the donations directly into the beneficiary’s account.

Item No. V – Reimbursement of Hospital Charges by ECHS: Maj Gen SN Mukherjee has pointed out that the ESM is not able to get reimbursement of Hospital Charges in full when they are admitted to a non-empaneled Hospital. Col Srikantha Seshadri, a member of the Oversight Committee of ECHS has explained that the patient admitted in a Non- the empaneled hospital has to intimate the ECHS Polyclinic within 2 days from the date of admission and submit the bills within 90 days from the date of discharge. Patients are eligible for full reimbursement once the bill is sent for reimbursement through proper channel to MOD and approved by it. He added further that unfortunately the MOD has been found to be not so helpful to the ESM in this matter.

The President informed of the latest judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court in the case of possibly a member of CGHS who got admitted to a non-empanelled hospital. His bill for reimbursement was disallowed. He challenged the decision of CGHS authorities right up to the Hon’ble Supreme Court. The Hon’ble Supreme Court upheld the argument of the petitioner and directed CGHS to reimburse the expenditure incurred in the non-empanelled hospital. However, it is better to inform OiC ECHS Polyclinic within 48 hrs of admission in a non-empanelled hospital. The reimbursement is limited to CGHS rates. Maj Gen Shibnath Mukherjee informed that some of the ECHS members admitted in non-empanelled hospitals get only 60% of the expenditure incurred. The President cited the example of some of the empanelled hospitals in Hyderabad and Secunderabad when some of the ECHS members get admitted for certain medical procedures like heart valve replacement etc, the hospital informs the patient that the CGHS rate for that medical procedure is less than what the hospital charges and ask him to pay the balance. Though this is not ethical, the patient or his spouse has no alternative but to cough up the balance amount to get the medical treatment. These empanelled hospitals after accepting the rates of CGHS indulge in such practices.

Item No V- Financial Assistance: WO Thiruchelvam, President, TSEWA informed that a case he sent to help out a widow with three unmarried daughters was not actioned upon. Lt Col G Parvathesam, the Treasurer, informed that he himself went and met the old lady and her daughter in Secunderabad to check on the ground the economic condition of the family. They have some dispute on the ownership of an ancestral house. The case was considered by the Charity Division and a sum of Rs 25,000 was paid to her.

On this WO Thiruchelvam said that the case he sent 3 years back is for a widow in Tamilnadu and not in Secunderabad. On this, the President suggested to WO Thiruchelvam to remind the Charity Div. As far as his knowledge goes, Charity Div never turned down any proposal from any State Presidents of TSEWA who sent all documents required. It is very essential to check the genuineness of the case on the ground as the funds available are very limited. He gave an example of Smt Indira Arunachalam of Mumbai on the recommendation of Cmde Kripal Sandhu, President, TSEWA, Mumbai Metro got Rs 25,000 twice. She is the divorced daughter of Mr. Arunachalam who retired from PCDA (Navy) Mumbai. TSEWA helped those dependents of Def Accts Dept also when their own Department did not help the dependent of their own employees. He further cited the case of Reservist Mathew from Kerala who on the recommendation of Lt Gen Vinod Nayanar of Kannur was given Rs 25,000 for purchase of cow and a second-time similar amount was sent to him as a son of Reservist Mathew was found to be medically unwell.

Cmde Sudheer Parakala, Chairman of Charity Div added that in few cases documents are not received but only an email saying the case be considered and financial assistance be rendered. He further stated that since we got 12(A) and 80(G) all our financial assistance is scrutinized by the Income Tax department hence documents are necessary before financial assistance is rendered. He stated that it is not possible for Charity Div based in Hyderabad to go all over the country to check the authenticity of the case. Therefore the State Presidents have to take the initiative to check on the ground the genuineness of the case and send all the documents which have been sent to them time and again.

There being no further points, the meeting was closed at 12:20 PM. It was decided that the next Core Committee Meeting will be held at 1000 hrs on 10 Apr 2021.

Brig CS Vidyasagar (Retd)
President, TSEWA

The post OROP Case Minutes of Virtual TSEWA Core Committee Meeting Points of Discussion appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

“Despite the fact that OROP has crossed two stages, protests by army veterans continue in New Delhi. The centre has made official announcements regarding OROP, but protests are continuing demanding the annual revision of pension.”

Equal pension for all ex-servicemen is the most important goal of the OROP scheme. This can be achieved only if pension is revised based solely on the rank and years of service, once every year. Pension revision once every five years is unacceptable. This is the bone of contention for the continuing protests.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met the protesters and expressed his support. He also harshly criticized the centre. “OROP must be implemented in its true essence. The centre’s announcements are not complete because they do not reflect the essence of OROP. The centre should refrain from fooling the army veterans. They are not begging for alms. They are only fighting for what rightfully belongs to them. It is unfortunate that these veterans who fought for the country are now being forced to protest on the streets for their rights. The centre should immediately accept and implement their demands,” he said.

Meanwhile, the army veterans had threatened to return their gallantry service medals if the government did not accept their demands. Some of the frustrated veterans tried to burn down their medals. But others restrained them.

Manohar Parrikar, the Minister of Defence, while addressing a gathering in Madurai, said that returning the medals was akin to insulting the country and the armed forces. He had also clarified that OROP was the promise of a political party, not of the central government. He added that protesting was their right and that they should approach the judicial panel committee. He made it very clear that not all the demands will be fulfilled.

Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement general secretary Group Capt V.K. Gandhi (retd) also said that until the judicial committee submits it report, the veterans could not go to court. This, he said, was a “delaying tactic”.

In an article published by the Indian Express yesterday, it was said that the veterans risk losing public support due to their immoderate position and political leadership also needs to reachout to the veterans.

The army veterans are hoping for an amicable resolution of the protests through fair negotiations with the government.

Source: http://www.cgstaffportal.in/

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Hunger Strike still continues at Jantar Mantar and the next course of action is declared today for 26th July day of Kargil Vijay. The AFVAI General Secretary Nb Sub G S Sidhu explained the current status of the protest…

Dear Veterans,
To day being 37th day of HS at JANTAR MANTAR, 10 widows and 10 veterans Including Lt gen LAL SINGH ,6 vets fm BIHAR and 1 fm total 27 sat on HS. Approx 30 Offrs of 3 SQD of NDA now highly decorated and another 300 vets were in audience.

HON LT NAR SINGH sir with 11 vet including ex MLA Ex Cpl BHARAT SINGH CHHOKAR fm SAMALKHA Haryana also were at JM. Wing Comdr VINOD NEBB hero of 1965 and 1971 war and in both War veer chakras awardee came second time with his family.

Col INDERJIT SINGH,LT GEN BALBIR SINGH,MAJ GEN SATBIR SINGH,BRIG KARTAR SIGH and myself addressed gathering.

SBI Bank parliament branch Manager with his staff also extended their support to our HS and also donated Rs 5000/-.

Some decisions were announced for 26 July day of KARGIL VIJAY.

1. Marathon run lead by Maj D P SINGH will b org.Route will b finalised tmw.

2. UFEXM and all Offrs Maj gen and above will write a DO LETTER on 26 July and every After 5 days to resign COAS and all Army Cmdrs and this will b continued till they Resign if OROP is not implemented with in few days.

MPs gherao is also consideration.

No MP from any party come to JANTAR MANTAR as they were suppose to come today.

Nb Sub G S SIDHU
Gen Secy AFVAI

Source: www.ex-airman.blogspot.in

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Anna Hazare Prepares for Nationwide Protests for OROP

The post Anna Hazare Prepares for Nationwide Protests for OROP appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

Several representations are received from Armed Forces Veterans relating to various issues such as pension fixation / One Rank One Pension, disbursal, rehabilitation, re-employment, effective implementation of Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme, financial assistance, grant of benefits to ESM / families by State Governments such as land / houses / flat, compensation, ex-gratia, etc. which are replied to / disposed off in accordance with the existing Government policies / Rules.

This information was given by Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh in a written reply to Shri Anto Antony in Lok Sabha today.

PIB

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Enhancing Military Capabilities is the Top Priority– Manohar Parrikar

 The Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar has said that his top priority is to enhance military capabilities of the country with due focus on modernization of the armed forces. Inaugurating a two-day Controllers’ Conference of Defence Accounts Department, here today, he said, high serviceability levels of equipment and weapon systems and high morale of soldiers is also necessary which is possible with an effective and optimum resource utilisation. He stressed on working as an integrated whole with shared resources of data and information, specifically in area of pension, payments, compilation and accounting preferably on real time basis. The Defence Minister emphasized that faster and transparent decision making and focus on “Make in India” are the two pillars of our strategy for leapfrogging our economy to a higher growth. Shri Parrikar cautioned the Defence Accounts officials against any attack of hackers on their database.

Shri Parrikar also inaugurated Pension Call Centre for dealing the queries from the pensioners and their families regarding their entitlement and pension payments. The Pension call centre for Army pensioners has been established in the office of PCDA (Pension) at Allahabad and can be accessed through the toll free number 1800 180 5321. The Defence Minister also hinted that an order regarding implementation of One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP) may be issued very soon. He said after the implementation of OROP the pension related anomalies will be reduced. On this occasion a statistical hand book on defence expenditure was also released by the Defence Minister. Earlier, Director General of Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS) Shri MJ Joseph presented a ISO 9001 certificate to Controller General of Defence Accounts (CGDA) Shri Arvind Kaushal for its Delhi Defence Accounts Office.

Chief of Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Arup Raha, Chief of Army Staff General Dalbir Singh, CGDA Shri Arvind Kaushal and Financial Advisor (Defence Services) Ms Vandana Srivastava were amongst the dignitaries who graced the inaugural function.

The theme of the conference is ‘Good Governance through strategic collaboration. During the conference, four business sessions concerning shared Database, E-Governance, Strengthening of IFAs System and HRD issues have been planned covering the Department’s working and emphasizing synergy with its client etc. of the defence services. Senior officer of the department as well as defence forces will lead the panel discussions on these issues and provide a road map for collaborated system improvements.

Source: PIB News

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06 Apr 2015
Dear Veterans,
Jai Hind.

The OROP file has been cleared by Ministry of Finance and is now with PM.

There is NO DILUTION of the Definition of OROP as announced twice in the Lok Sabha.

However, the X and Y Group pensions, of JCOs and OR will be different, as always, and not same as expected by some Veterans.

Source: http://ex-servicemenwelfare.blogspot.in/

The post FLASH NEWS ON ONE RANK ONE PENSION – OROP FILE HAS BEEN CLEARED BY FINMIN AND IS NOW WITH PM appeared first on CENTRAL GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES NEWS.

LATEST ON OROP IMPLEMENTATION : MESSAGE FROM SHRI THANESWARSEN, CHAIRMAN, NEXCC.

Shri Manohar Parikkar, Hon’ble Defence Minister, Government of India, met representative of our organization(NEXCC) led by Shri V.N.Mishra, Secretary General (as Chairman is indisposed).

Where 20/25 minutes cordial discussion had in connection with implementation One Rank One Pension(OROP). He has assured our delegation, that by 1st week of April,2015, modalities will be finalized & 1st payment will be made on 1st week of May, 2015. Arrears will be paid in 4 equal installments.

Considering the deferred assurance given by the Hon’ble Defence Minister, available Central Committee Member in Delhi, decided to defer our agitational programme on 6th & 7th April, 2015. It is further to intimate that Central Executive Committee to a later date.

The representative also brought to the knowledge of the Hon’ble Defence Minister about the ECHS meeting scheduled to be held on 05th April, 2015,at New Delhi, also & Military Service Pay(MSP)anomalies, which he assured to look into.

Source: www.ex-sergeant.blogspot.in

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