Defence Minister likely to announce One Rank One Pension today: Sources

New Delhi: In a move that might douse the long standing protest of defence veterans, the Narendra Modi government is likely to announce the One Rank One pension scheme on Saturday.

According to sources, the scheme is expected to be announced by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at around 3 pm as a "tribute to veterans".

Sources have also said that most of the ex-servicemen, who have been protesting at Jantar Mantar in the national capital, are likely to accept the government proposal and end the stir.

The base year for the implementation of OROP will be calendar year 2013, with equalisation every five years. Sources said that the arrears will be paid to the beneficiaries in half-yearly payments.

This comes after defence veterans, who have been protesting for the implementation of One Rank One Pension, dug in their heels, saying they would not accept anything less than pension revisions every two years.

Earlier, CNN-IBN had reported that according to the draft prepared by the government, the Centre would give revisions only every five years.

Sources in the government say OROP will be implemented from July 1, 2014 with Financial Year 2013-14 as the base year. The veterans wanted OROP from April 1, 2014 and 2015 as the base year.

The Centre will also set up one-member judicial commission to find out any anomaly and it will submit the report within six months.

While the number of military veterans is over 24.25 lakh, there are nearly 6 lakh widows, too, who are entitled to lifetime pension. The current pension of defence forces is Rs 54,000 crore and it will increase to Rs 75,000 crore after OROP is implemented.

Almost 85% of military personnel retire before age of 40 but civilian employees serve till the age of 60. Only 1% of military personnel serve upto age of 60. While the number of registered ex-servicemen is 24.25 lakh and there are over 13 lakh serving military personnel. The estimated cost of OROP will be Rs 8,300 crore.

One Rank One Pension scheme has been a long-standing demand of the ex-servicemen. It seeks to ensure that a uniform pension is paid to defence personnel who retire at the same rank with the same length of service, irrespective of their date of retirement.

Several retired defence personnel have been protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar for One Rank One Pension. Some of them are also on fast-unto-death.