Kautilya, had once given his king a blunt warning: “The day the soldier has to demand his dues, will be a sad day for Magadha for then, on that day, you will have lost all moral sanction to be King!”

Hundreds of years after Kautilya’s utterance, scores of ex-army men have begun an indefinite relay hunger strike outside Jantar Mantar. They are demanding the implementation of the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme, which has been a pipe dream for more than 40 years. The hunger strike is being carried out in more than 50 cities all across the country.

One Rank One Pension aims at dispensing the same amount of pension for each rank, with similar length of service, and with the benefits of future enhancements passed on to past retirees of the Indian army.

For example, a Subedar who has retired from the army in 1979 is supposed to get the same pension as a Subedar who has retired in 2013, with the same number of years of service.

OROP will benefit more than 20 lakh ex-servicemen, and about six lakh war widows. The Manmohan Singh leadership had agreed on OROP in the last months of its tenure, hoping to garner the support of the retired defense personnel. The government had also made a provision of Rs 500 crore, in the interim budget.

In his elections campaigns, Modi had criticised Manmohan Singh’s government, for being “fraudulent”, and claimed that only his government could implement the One Rank One Pension scheme.

This had raised the hopes of army men in the country. But the government has been indecisive on the issue since the past several months.

According to a release by the Press Information Bureau, the government has accepted the principle of OROP, but is yet to define its modalities.

The pension of army men is decided by the pay commissions set up by the central government. Retired Major Manmohan Singh explains that until 1973, officers drew 50 per cent of their last drawn salary. The jawans and junior commissioned officers drew 70 per cent of their last drawn salary as pension. Things, however, changed after the Third Pay Commission, which suggested a reduction in army pensions.

Every new pay commission increases the salary of the currently serving army-men, and consequently their pensions. This widens the pension gap between the old and young retirees.

The jawans constitute the bulk of the army, and mostly retire by the age of 35. This means that they often draw pension for more number of years than they earn their salaries for.

Early retirement makes pensions much more important to army men. This is because pensions are paid as a fixed percentage of the last drawn salary. As pay commissions are mostly set up with a gap of more than 10 years between them, most army jawans get the benefits of just one pay commission’s recommendation of salary hikes during their careers. On the other hand, civilians who retire at the age of 60 get to experience the benefits of at least three pay commissions during their years of service.

The government currently pays its employees according to the 6^th Pay Commission, whose recommendations came to force on the January 1, 2006.

A sample comparison of pension discrepancy

The hunger strike is not a sudden outburst of anger by the ex-servicemen. They first met the defense minister in December 2014, and were assured of the government’s seriousness. They also held a protest in February. However, nothing has been done till now.

Retired Major General Satbir Singh, who is leading the protests, says that the government has not been able to give the army the dignity it deserves, even after 60 years of Independence. In an interview to Newslaundry, he said, “This fight is first for the widows and the jawans, who get the least amount of pension.”

The implementation of OROP will cost the exchequer upwards of Rs 8,000 crore every year. Satbir Singh, in an interview to The Times of India, had said, “If it is short of funds, the government should openly say so. We are even ready to accept bonds but give us our 100%.”

The ex-servicemen are determined to make the government fulfill its promises. Subedar KC Juneja served for 28 years in the army. He recounts his army days, and says, “We have always had our seniors by our sides – while we were in the army, and even after retirement. This fight is for us, for the jawans and the widows. Is baar, hum hatengey nahin.”