First of all this is absolutely wrong that you made my type all that and simply put everything under the carpet...it was you who brought an analogy of how Modi had time and money for other activities however not for our veterans....so for your intellectual honesty sake either agree with me that you were wrong in making that analogy or counter me, no??
@deckingrajBe concise please.Dont bring unwarranted stuff like war memorial URLs and complicate OROP.This soldiers & war widows pension issue is separate stuff. So lets be specific.Lets focus on OROP:What is the outlay involved within this OROP imbroglio of both parties?
Any idea?
Yes however i am not the one who has powers to implement anything...nor do i have stats to see how implementable my ideas are...Anyways here is my dig at it...I will ignore the part of coming up with a unique formula about how to calculate what will OROP means for all the anomalies that are part and parcel of a huge organization like our Army....Let's assume our babus are good for something....
I believe there are two important parts of the problem in financial terms which unfortunately are opposite force to each other...
a) Tenure of armed forces is short for various reasons as compared to their counterparts . Thus they need to be duly compensated...
b) Defined Benefits is legacy item and we will run out of funds for such a scheme. With that already set in stone, OROP is regressive in nature. On top of that it open flood gates for Para Military forces, Railways etc...
On Emotional front
a) Political parties as usual make promises for the sake of winning votes without actually calculating costs of those promises...however when they win and try to solve the issue they realize how big the problem is. That is where they need to be put accountable...
Now what is the way out....First of all we all need to agree that as a nation we have not done enough for our veterans...and it is absolute important for us to do away with this sickening situation. Here is what i believe will work
a) Compromise - We need to find a compromise formulae...We certainly have to bring in OROP however we can't afford it to be open ended. I mean there is no point in bringing economic havoc and hurting the nation for fulfilling promise to the veterans who gave solid years of their lives serving the same nation....What should be that compromise formulae...Changing defined benefits to Defined Contributions for new recruits in armed forces much like their civilian counterparts is one way to go. However given armed forces tenure is small than civilian counterparts they need to be compensated in terms of extra contribution from govt. side as compared with Civilian counterparts. On the other hand OROP for veterans in letter and spirit.
b) Transparency is the mantra...If i am demanding something and i very well know this is going to bring doomsday for my country then i will not demand it/modify my demands...So Govt. needs to be very transparent on the actual costs involved...
c) Taxes - We have so many forms of taxes however common man will not make much of an issue if a very affordable amount of additonal tax is levied to fund OROP for our armed forces. Population in general are very emotional towards our forces and there will not be much of a cry(assumption)
d) Economy - This is long term....If we manage to go back to our lost glory(recover lost decade) then we can fund such programs without compromising other aspects. Inflation is killing veterans and is one of the real reason for such a massive hue and cry for OROP.
e) Political parties should be spanked publicly when they make such promises withouth showing a detailed plan as to how the hell they are going to fund the promise....
f) Most important of all - All the scum bags who are hell bent on halting Modi's economic agenda should be ignored/boycotted...Now i am not saying we should ignore scum bags in BJP however we need to keep one thing in mind....India can't afford another lost decade/half a decade....and thus we should do all what we can to help the government that we have brought with such a huge majority....