We deserve OROP, but won't take to streets like Army veterans, say paramilitary servicemen

Central Paramilitary Forces (CPMFs) want ‘One Rank, One Pension’ (OROP) too, similar to India’s defence forces, but they are in no hurry to hit the streets. The CPMF personnel have already made representations to the Seventh Pay Commission and the Parliamentary Standing Committee. It’s learnt that the latter has asked the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) for its comment on the issue. [caption id=“attachment_2422638” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  OROP protest. PTI image.[/caption] “The MHA’s report is awaited and once we get to know about it we’ll decide our course of action,” a retired Border Security Force (BSF) official said. However, going by the response of Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh to a query on the subject on the floor of Rajya Sabha, it could be a long haul. “The government is not formulating any policy for implementing OROP for the paramilitary forces,” he had said in July. CPMFs want to pursue the matter with patience while keeping a close watch on what the government announces for the defence personnel in its notification. VPS Panwar, chairman, National Coordination Committee of Ex-Central Paramilitary Forces Personnel Welfare Association said, “CPMF veterans don’t want to come out and demonstrate like Army veterans did. Right now we’re not pushing for the OROP issue and we want to give the government some time. Let it first issue notification on OROP for the armed forces. We don’t want to take this up haphazardly.” There are close to nine lakh serving personnel in the CPMF comprising Central Reserve Police Force, BSF, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force, Shastra Sena Bal, Assam Rifles and the Railway Protection Force. The number of retired personnel is three lakh. In its representation, the CPMF has mentioned that since independence the Army has lost 22,500 soldiers in action while CPMFs have lost 33,678 of their personnel. “Let it be emphatically clarified that the genesis of the CPMFs is the same as that of the country’s defence forces — Article 246, Seventh Schedule, entry two of the Union List to the Constitution of India. The CPMFs have been specifically defined as Armed Forces of the Union in various acts passed by Parliament and through various government orders. These forces have also been so upheld in various court judgments (including by the Supreme Court of India). We’re the first line of defence in the country, be it the Maoist-affected areas, the border with Pakistan or the insurgency-hit Jammu & Kashmir and the North-East states. So, we’re equally eligible to get the benefit of OROP similar to defence forces,” said Panwar. MS Malhi, Inspector General (retd), BSF added, “No force has so high accountability as BSF because of its nature of job. We’ve a core group working on the issue of OROP and meanwhile, a representation has already been made to the Seventh Pay Commission.” He questioned: “If OROP is possible for the army, why not for the BSF?”