There are still some grievances among a section of the veterans regarding the OROP issue saying that the government hasn’t fully met their demands.
Armed forces veterans, who had returned around 20,000 medals in the last eight years to pressurize the central government to implement the one rank one pension (OROP) scheme, now want their military decorations back.
Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM), an umbrella organization of
veterans that fought for OROP, has written to the defence ministry
asking for the medals, which are currently lying at the office of the
President. IESM chairman Lt Gen (retd) Raj Kadyan, who was the first
veteran to return his medals to the President in 2008, said the present
OROP scheme was diluted and the veterans would work to ensure that all
their demands are met, but there was no reason to give up the proudly
earned decorations.According to a Times of India report, nearly 20,000 medals were given back which were lying at President Pranab Mukherjee’s office. One of the organisations at the forefront of the agitation was the Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) who has written to the MoD, asking for their medals back. IESM chairman Lt Gen (retd) Raj Kadyan told the daily that he did not consider the unsanctioned portion of the OROP serious enough now, to merit the medals to be still kept with the government.
“Of late there have been demands to take back our medals. The IESM passed a resolution to begin the process of retrieving the medals,” he added.
There are still some grievances among a section of the veterans regarding the OROP issue saying that the government hasn’t fully met their demands. But it looks like those are not major enough for army men to part with their treasured medals won after valiantly fighting in the line of duty. Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also said earlier that most of the veterans are happy with the OROP scheme implemented by the government.
Source: TOI
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