The OROP "Gift" Lowers Military Morale, National Security Compromised

Pradhan Mantri (PM) Modi celebrated Diwali with army troops at Dograi and reportedly announced that OROP was a Diwali gift to military veterans. Perhaps he was not aware that veterans are critical of this tainted “gift”, since it is a version of OROP seriously diluted by bureaucratic machinations. This includes a proviso that OROP benefit will not extend to soldiers who retire prematurely (PMR) in the future – “No-OROP-for-PMR”. Perhaps Mr.Modi does not know that troops would not have raised the PMR question because they are disciplined, but why he didn't himself tell veterans of his Diwali gift is not known.

The PM has never met veterans nor responded to their request for a meeting, though he has scored brownie points more than once when addressing serving soldiers regarding OROP. After assuring veterans of OROP during his election campaign, as PM Mr.Modi questioned the definition of OROP even though the Koshiyari Committee stated it explicitly. When he stated at Faridabad that he would transfer funds meant for the poor to meet the demand of funds for OROP, he effectively stated that veterans demand for OROP would be at the cost of the poor of India. Veterans see this as a slight and as a blatant attempt to gain political advantage, unbecoming of a PM from whom veterans and much of the country had great expectations.

Raksha Mantri (RM) Parrikar for his part, made several statements which have muddied the OROP waters already made murky by bureaucrats, and angered veterans. First he said that veterans should not expect 100% of their OROP demand. Then he said that India has not fought a war for decades, implying that soldiers need to hone their fighting skills and not bother about pay and pension. Most recently, he has gone to the extent of saying that veterans agitation and protest is “not soldier-like”. This is very much in keeping with the present government's practice of denigrating protests which oppose or criticize its policies, decisions or actions.

The Diwali 'gift'

Government's notification of OROP is a seriously diluted version of the concept of OROP on seven major counts. But the single most important issue which affects the demography of the military and consequent efficiency is the mischieviously introduced concept of premature retirement (PMR) as a means to deny OROP for veterans of the future, that is, today's serving soldier.

The effect of “No-OROP-for-PMR” is to encourage an “older” military which will be physically and motivationally less able to withstand the rigours of military service in the field. The numbers of disgruntled men and officers will increase as they stagnate in their rank and wait to reach the age of retirement in their rank, so as to not lose the benefit of OROP. Obviously, whenever possible, such soldiers will avoid hard training and diligent work. Disciplinary cases will multiply, and the negative loop will gain speed at the cost of preparedness for battle. Battles and wars cannot be fought, leave alone won, when the man-behind-the-gun is sullen, unhappy and demotivated due to the way his Service and his government treats him. The soldier who has taken an oath to fight for his country even at risk of death or disabling injury, will ask himself if he was mistaken.

The whole country was shocked at the police manhandling peacefully agitating veterans at Jantar Mantar on 14 August. From this pre-meditated humiliation by government, veterans understood that the government would surely prevaricate on the OROP demand, and their fears have come true. The veterans' peaceful and dignified agitation has crossed 150 days, and its leaders are increasingly hard put to control hotheads among them who are advising a more confrontational and aggressive approach. But what perhaps has irrevocably hardened the veterans' stance against the politician-bureaucrat nexus is PM Modi's treatment of veterans' decades-old demand of OROP as a Diwali 'gift'. Much worse, No-OROP-for-PMR has caused much discussion among serving soldiers of all ranks. They will remain silent because of the constraints of military law, but their disappointment and anger will inevitably translate into lowered morale and lowered battle efficiency, and compromising national security.

Civil-military relations

The seed of distrust of the politician-bureaucrat nexus among serving and retired faujis was sown and germinated during PM Manmohan Singh's watch. This seedling has been growing vigorously in the past year. The fact that the army's adjutant general has been meeting veterans in order to coax them to accept the diluted OROP formula, displays the supine attitude or worse, of the present top military leadership. Serving soldiers are critical of the equivocating role of their Service chiefs, who have effectively degraded the trust of subordinate ranks in the higher command structure.

The political class appears to remain ignorant of the organic link between military veterans and serving soldiers. What affects the soldier affects the veteran and vice versa, and today's soldier is tomorrow's veteran. Especially in the army, the largest of the armed forces, the Jawan and junior officer actually face the enemy, and in situations of extreme peril, rely entirely on mutual trust, team-work and training for individual survival and operational success. The morale of the fighting man is the glue that cements trust with team-work. Low morale spells botched operations, casualties, discipline problems and lost battles. The effect on serving soldiers of government's “gift” of OROP, is in the womb of time.

The PM, as executive head of government, needs to take responsibility for present nose-diving civil-military relations, which affect national security. This cannot be shrugged off as collective responsibility of the BJP as done for its Bihar defeat. But taking responsibility is one thing and doing something about it is another. With his post-Bihar vulnerability within his own party, PM Modi seems unlikely to do either.

National security

The deficiencies of equipment, weapons and ammunition from UPA days persists, with no improvement since May 2014. It is piquant that the deficiencies were boldly pointed out by then-COAS Gen V.K.Singh, the world knows how he paid for his “insolence”, and was driven into the arms of the BJP on retirement. Though he is a minister in the ruling dispensation, India's military capability remains degraded.

India's military has fought and won battles “fighting with what we have” (especially 1965 and Kargil 1999), because the morale of the soldier was high, and he placed value on his oath to defend and serve his country even at the risk of life and limb. India's military proved that with high morale and rigorous training, the man-behind-the-gun could compensate for lack of military materiel. But now, the morale situation worries anybody with concern for national security. Thus today, the nation's military suffers triple disadvantages, namely, failing trust in the political leadership, severe deficiencies in materiel, and lowered morale of the fighting man and his leaders.

The shenanigans of the politician-bureaucrat nexus regarding OROP adversely affecting the morale of India's armed forces will be appreciated if not celebrated with crackers by Pakistan's military. The strategically ignorant, chronically myopic, blatantly arrogant politician-bureaucrat nexus has irreversibly harmed India by harming its own armed forces. India's political sovereignty and territorial integrity are at risk, as governments' last bastion for both domestic governance and external security is being knowingly or unknowingly emasculated. PM Modi has much to think about.

Major General S.G. Vombatkere, VSM, retired in 1996 as Additional DG Discipline & Vigilance in Army HQ AG's Branch. He holds a PhD degree in Structural Dynamics from I.I.T, Madras. He is Adjunct Associate Professor of the University of Iowa, USA, in international studies. With over 450 published papers in national and international journals and seminars, his current area of interest is strategic and development-related issues. E-mail: sg9kere@live.com

The Ministry of Defence Letter granting One Rank One Pension (OROP) has been issued. The same can be downloaded and accessed by clicking here.

One Rank One Pension (OROP) notified

Salient features of OROP notified today:

Pensions based on live data of 2013 calculated at average of minimum and maximum pensions of individuals who were discharged in the said year. Pensions shall be equalized every 5 years.

If any person is in receipt of pension higher than the above amount, that shall stay protected. Pensioners with lower amount shall be upgraded.

Arrears with effect from 01 July 2014, to be paid in four installments but recipients of family pension shall be released arrears in one installment. Gallantry awardees also to be paid in one single installment.

Voluntary retirement clause removed for all past retirees but the negative stipulation shall be imposed on future retirees who opt for premature retirement or discharge at own request from today onwards. This shall apply to those who opt for release under Rule 13(3)1(i)(b),13(3)1(iv) or 16B of the Army Rules 1954 and pari materia rules of the other two services.

Judicial Commission will be constituted to iron out the anomalies which shall submit its report in 6 months.

OROP tables based on 2013 data shall be made available very soon.

Courtesy: Major Navdeep Singh

Happy Air Force Day

Celebrating Indian Air Force Day: Salute the guardians of our skies!

The Dimensions of Veterans’ Disillusionment and Ire

By: Major General S. G. Vombatkere

Mainstream, 28 September 2015

The Government of India (GoI) finally announced its version of One-Rank-One-Pension (OROP) for military Veterans. This was welcomed only in part by the Veterans, because there were important sticking points which were not included or inadequately included in the announcement. Fortunately, the Veterans who were on fast-unto-death were persuaded to end their fast, but the Veterans’ resolve to remain on protest until the outstanding points were settled to their satisfaction, resulted in planning a “Sainik Ekta Rally” on September 12 at New Delhi’s Jantar Mantar.

But reverting to the GoI’s OROP announce-ment, obviously at the instance of the bureau-cracy, it included a hitherto unmentioned stipulation that soldiers who opt for VRS (voluntary retirement scheme) would not be entitled to OROP. When the GoI was informed that there was no concept of VRS in the defence services, the same stipulation was shifted to soldiers who took premature retirement. This has angered Veterans because many soldiers take premature retirement since promotion avenues are severely limited, or because there are problems in distant homes, or they try their luck at some job in civvy street since there is no job assurance on retirement anyway. Today, Veterans are waiting for the GoI’s signed document on OROP since they have been repeatedly cheated and have long since ceased to trust the spoken word of politicians and bureaucrats.

Ekta Rally

It is learned that the GoI had “advised” Veterans not to hold the “Ekta Rally”. But the rally on September 12 was a huge success, with thousands of Veterans from all over India converging at Jantar Mantar, exceeding the expectations of the organisers. When TV crews present were asked as to why the rally was not being screened, on condition of anonymity they revealed that the GoI had “advised” the TV channel managements not to air the event. It has also come to light that buses crammed with Veterans were stopped at the Delhi border to deter Veterans (all old and many infirm) from reaching Jantar Mantar.

It is abundantly clear that the GoI has tried, unsuccessfully as it turned out, to make the “Ekta Rally” fail. But Veterans, even some in wheel-chairs, have spoken with their feet; the discomfiture of the GoI is complete. One Veteran even asked whether the GoI’s strategem of breaking the Veterans’ unity was a harbinger of the days to come. Serious rumblings! And what would be the thoughts of the serving soldier on his cold vigil on the Himalayan and trans-Himalayan heights?

The World Watches

It has already been brought out how apex-scale-pension retired bureaucrat Avay Shukla’s article titled “The Bitter Truth About OROP”, in which he argued that OROP is “inherently flawed”, “cannot be limited to the armed forces only”, and is “neither fair nor possible”, was being gleefully discussed in “Pakistan Defence”. <http://defence.pk/threads/the-bitte...> The whole world, and especially India’s neighbours, are well aware that the GoI’s intransigence on the OROP issue is affecting the morale of the serving soldier who guards our frontiers. However, the GoI, under the thrall of an obstinately self-serving and strategically myopic civil service, appears to be oblivious to the rapidly worsening situation. It has escaped nobody’s attention that PM Narendra Modi, ordinarily a self-confident and loquacious person, has not spoken with Veterans since the agitation began, and speculation of the reason is rife. The unfortunate gap in civil-military relations having widened to a chasm is apparent.

The Veterans’ agitation at Jantar Mantar, starting on June 14, 2015, moving on to relay fast and finally some Veterans undertaking fast-unto-death to force the hand of the GoI to announce OROP, is undoubtedly being watched by intelligence agencies worldwide, and especially by Pakistan and China. Its effect on serving soldiers would inevitably be carefully assessed.

Military Capability

It is well to note that the weapons, ammunition and equipment deficiencies—which were revealed by the then Army Chief, Gen V.K. Singh, to the consternation and annoyance of the UPA Government—have not yet been made up. It is not known whether the National Security Council (NSC) has consulted Gen V.K. Singh, since retired, who is a Union Minister in the present GoI, on this critical issue.

It is wisely said that the quality of the man-behind-the-gun is at least as important as the availability and quality of the gun itself. Indeed, the GoI is commemorating 50 years of the 1965 war against Pakistan, during which Pakistan’s designs were soundly defeated by motivated Indian soldiers using dated arms and equipment pitted against Pakistan’s superior Patton tanks and F-86 Sabre jet aircraft gifted by the USA. But today, 50 years later, the man-behind-the-gun is unhappy due to persistent injustices and indignities heaped upon him over the decades by the bureaucrat-politician nexus. And India’s military capability is further degraded by shor-tages of weapons, ammunition and equipment.

Joining the Dots

It is for the NSC to consider whether the increase in ceasefire and LOC violations by Pakistan, and the Pakistan Army Chief’s belligerent statements, are actually Pakistan testing India’s political will and military capability.

It must be recalled that soon after Narendra Modi assumed office as the PM, he sat cordially with Chinese President Xi Ping on a “jhoola” on the banks of the Sabarmati. At that very time, Chinese troops had made incursions near Depsang-la across the LAC in Ladakh. Today, on September 12, the ominous breaking news is that Chinese workers have started constructing permanent defences near Burtse (not far from Depsang-la), and when the Indian troops objected, Chinese troops have moved in.

One must recall that the attack by China in 1962 began in October, the month when Indian troops begin to experience increasing mobility difficulties in the Himalayan terrain as winter progresses, while Chinese troops have little or no such mobility constraints and are today further advantaged by firm logistics of the railway link to Lhasa. In 1962, as now, India’s soldier was ill-equipped and there was a huge gap in civil-military relations. But today the situation also includes a sense of disillusionment among the serving soldiers, which did not obtain in 1962.

PM Modi, and the NSC which he heads, may have to think and act very quickly to assess the real-time joint Pakistan-China threat. In any case, they would do well to urgently create a single-point-of-military-advice by appointing a military officer as the National Security Advisor (as NSA-External) in addition to the existing NSA who would advise on internal security. This writer hopes and prays that his apprehen-sions of external threat are unfounded.

Major General S.G. Vombatkere, VSM, retired in 1996 as the Additional DG Discipline and Vigilance in the Army HQ AG’s Branch. He holds a Ph.D degree in Structural Dynamics from IIT Madras. He is the Adjunct Associate Professor of the University of Iowa, USA, in international studies. With over 450 published papers in national and international journals and seminars, his current area of interest is strategic and development-related issues.