Pension Enhancement Close to One Rank One Pension Demand, says Govt: Veteran Prabhjot Singh Chhatwal PLS Retd.

Pension Enhancement Close to One Rank
One Pension Demand, says Govt:Pension Enhancement
Close to One Rank One Pension Demand,says Govt:In a move
that will bring relief to over 12 lakhex-servicemen, the
Defence Ministry has issued orders to implement pending
pensionary benefits to theminvolving an annual expenditure
of about Rs 2,200 crore.The decision followed
recommendations by a high-level committee and recent
assurance in this regard in theLok Sabha by Prim Minister
Mr. Manmohan Singh.With these orders, the ministry has
implemented all the seven recommendationsof the
committee headed by Cabinet Secretary Mr. K M
Chandrasekhar on pensions, which would now be close to the
‘One Rank-One Pension’ demand of ex-servicemen, senior
ministry officials said today.“The Defence Ministry issued the
orders on March 8 this year to implement the remaining two
of the seven suggestions of the Cabinet Secretary K M
Chandrasekhar-headed committee on‘One Rank-One Pension’
demand,”they said.The two recommendations for which the
orders were issued werbringing parity between pension of
pre- and post-October 10, 1997, personnel below officer rank,
and further improving their pensions based on award of
Groupof Ministers in 2006.To queries on the order, Defence
Ministry spokesperson Sitanshu Kar said implementation of
the orders would not only significantly reduce the gap between
the past and current pensioners, but would also considerably
improve the pension of ex-servicemen includingdisabled
pensioners.