Celebrations planned to mark 10 years of OROP; PM Modi likely to attend

Grand celebrations have been planned to mark a decade of the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) next month in the capital, which will see the participation of scores of ex-servicemen and the veterans from three wings of Armed Forces.

The event to celebrate the milestone of the tenth anniversary of the OROP scheme is slated to be held at Manekshaw Centre in Delhi Cantt on November 7-8.

PM Modi is also likely to attend the event on November 7, to mark a decade of the OROP, the scheme that left a profound impact on the retirement lives of armed veterans across the country.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has also invited representatives from the Indian Armed Forces veteran community including Directors of Rajya Sainik Boards (RSBs) and state-level veterans from the Army, Navy, and Air Force to join celebrations.

Attendees will include veterans from the Army, Navy, and Air Force, reflecting the unified pride in this achievement.

On November 8, the will be convened to address key issues concerning former servicemen, which include transition from paper ESM identity cards to PVC cards, state-level formation of former servicemen corporations.

Other discussions will address concerns within the Directorate General Resettlement (DGR) and the Ex-Servicemen Contributory Health Scheme (ECHS), with the overarching aim of improving services and support for the ex-servicemen community.

The  is a policy for the armed forces veterans, ensuring equal pension payments for all the military personnels. This was a long-awaited demand of the veterans until sanctioned by Modi government after coming to power.

Under OROP, veterans who retire at the same rank and with the same length of service are entitled to receive equal pension, regardless of the date of their retirement.

The potential beneficiaries of OROP are about 2.6 million retired armed forces personnel and 60,000 widows.

(With inputs from IANS)