One Rank One Pension – War Comes to an End – Veterans Want their Medals back

One Rank One Pension – War Comes to an End – There are still some grievances among a section of the veterans regarding the OROP issue saying that the government hasn’t fully met their demands.

Armed forces veterans, who had returned around 20,000 medals in the last eight years to pressurize the central government to implement the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme, now want their military decorations back.

Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), an umbrella organization of veterans that fought for OROP, has written to the defence ministry asking for the medals, which are currently lying at the office of the President. IESM chairman Lt Gen (retd) Raj Kadyan, who was the first veteran to return his medals to the President in 2008, said the present OROP scheme was diluted and the veterans would work to ensure that all their demands are met, but there was no reason to give up the proudly earned decorations.

According to a Times of India report, nearly 20,000 medals were given back which were lying at President Pranab Mukherjee’s office. One of the organisations at the forefront of the agitation was the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) who has written to the MoD, asking for their medals back. IESM chairman Lt Gen (retd) Raj Kadyan told the daily that he did not consider the unsanctioned portion of the OROP serious enough now, to merit the medals to be still kept with the government.

“Of late there have been demands to take back our medals. The IESM passed a resolution to begin the process of retrieving the medals,” he added.

There are still some grievances among a section of the veterans regarding the OROP issue saying that the government hasn’t fully met their demands. But it looks like those are not major enough for army men to part with their treasured medals won after valiantly fighting in the line of duty. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also said earlier that most of the veterans are happy with the OROP scheme implemented by the government.