Modi govt honours armed forces, announces pension for differently-abled soldiers

On Friday, the Ministry of Defence announced that differently-abled soldiers would get a minimum pension of Rs 18000 per month starting 1 January 2016. It is a commendable step of the Modi government, as it would benefit a large number of soldiers, who got injured or disabled serving the country.

Talking about the latest decision of Modi government, the Defence Ministry tweeted, “With approval from Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, it has been decided that the disability or war injury pension, special family pension and liberalized family pension shall be a minimum Rs 18,000 per month for defence forces pensioners and family pensioners, with effect from 1 January 2016.”

Earlier, Modi government approved One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme. OROP scheme for armed force personnel was awaited since the time when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister. The successive Congress governments had not been able to implement the scheme which allows the same pension to retired army officials irrespective of their retirement dates. For example, a Major who retired in 1999 will get the same pension as a major who retired in 2017 gets. Finally, Modi government sanctioned a budget of 8300 Crore for OROP. This step by Modi government has been praised throughout the country.

Not only the Modi government kept its promise of OROP, but also it did not stop there. The 7th CPC for the armed forces is not based directly on 6th CPC, but on OROP applied to 6th CPC which provided a fair and satisfactory increase in the salary of our brave heroes. Also, the disability certificate of the soldiers was difficult to obtain with different percentages of disabilities, causing inappropriate treatment. But, Modi government revoked that and afterwards brave soldiers who lost their body functionalities are classified into three broad categories of 50 percent and below, 50-75 and 75 and above. This way, the entire procedure became faster, smoother, and less difficult to the brave hearts.

Also, Modi government awarded ‘Ashoka Chakra’ to martyred militant-turned-soldier Lance Naik Nazir Ahmad Wani on the eve of the 70^th Republic Day this year.  

Since coming to power, PM Modi lauded the courage of our jawans. Time and again, Narendra Modi had celebrated the festivals with the soldiers of the armed forces. Armed forces too have upheld the pride of the nation with glorious surgical strikes and by holding a strategic victory at the Doklam standoff. The pension scheme will further boost the morale of the armed forces and a welcoming step on the part of the Modi government.