Union minister VK Singh's daughter joins OROP protest

NEW DELHI: Union minister Gen (retd) V K Singh's daughter Mrinalini on Sunday joined the ongoing agitation of military veterans for one rank, one pension (OROP), in further embarrassment to the NDA government that is still grappling with "technical difficulties" in implementing the scheme.
"This (OROP) is a just cause and the matter has been pending for many years.I have come here as an ex-serviceman's daughter to give support to the veterans who have served the country but are now protesting for their rights for over two months," Mrinalini, whose is married to a serving Army officer, said.

She said she had neither sought her father's permission to join the dharna nor needed it. "I have come straight from Hisar (Haryana) because I feel for the cause. A few years down the line, I will also become the wife of an ex-serviceman. I am going to meet my father and I will definitely ask him to come and join the protest," she said.
Mrinalini, however, expressed full faith in PM Narendra Modi to deliver on his promise of implementing OROP at the earliest. "Our previous governments have been promising to do something. This government looks committed towards fulfilling it. So I hope it fulfills it," she said.
Military veterans have been protesting at Jantar Mantar for the last 70 days, with three of them launching a fast-unto-death a week ago. The ex-servicemen, who agreed in a meeting with the PMO not to escalate their stir for the time-being, are slated to meet Modi between August 24 and 26. The veterans are sticking to their stand that the government make OROP effective from April 2014, as it had earlier promised, and not from January 2015 as it is now proposing. Also, the veterans want 2014 to be taken as the base year for fixing their pensions, while the government wants it to be 2011.
Grant of full OROP to more than 25 lakh veterans in the country will cost around Rs 8,300 crore per year. If calculated from April 2014, it adds up to at least Rs 16,600 crore, ahead of the implementation of the 7th Pay Commission from 2016 onwards, as reported by TOI earlier.
The veterans are dead against any dilution in the definition of OROP, which entails payment of uniform pension to military personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement. Plus, any further enhancement in pension rates should be automatically passed on to past pensioners.