Govt announces OROP for ex-servicemen, pension to be revised every five years

September 5, 2015

New Delhi, Sep 5: The government has decided to implement the One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme for veterans, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said here on Saturday. The pension would be refixed every five years and the scheme will be with effect from July 1, 2014.manoharparrikar

But the ex-servicemen said they were not "fully satisfied" with the government's decision. Maj Gen (retd) Satbir Singh, spearheading the campaign for OROP said they will take a decision later on whether to continue with the agitation for the implementation of the scheme.

Parrikar said that the arrears for the much-awaited scheme will be paid in four half- yearly instalments. Widows and war widows will get it first in one instalment.

"OROP will be fixed on the basis of calendar year 2013. Pension will be refixed for all pensioners on the same rank and with the same length of service as the average of minimum and maximum pension in 2013," he said.

Parrikar said that the previous government had set aside a sum of Rs.500 crores for OROP, but it was "not based on a thorough analysis".

He said experts have now estimated that the cost to the exchequer will be Rs.8,000 crores to Rs.10,000 crores. "This will increase further." The expenditure on arrears alone will be around Rs.10,000 crores to Rs.12,000 crores. Those drawing pensions above the average will be protected.

The minister said that personnel who opt for premature retirement will not be covered under the OROP scheme. "In future, the pension will be refixed every five years."

Over 25 lakh veterans would benefit from the implementation of the OROP scheme. The veterans have been protesting at Jantar Mantar for nearly three months to demand the implementation of the OROP scheme. They had said they would step up their protest if their demand was not met.

The announcement comes ahead of the upcoming Bihar assembly election. There had been intense speculation that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may announce the OROP scheme during his August 15 Independence Day address to the nation. But, he only said that the scheme had been accepted in principle.

Parrikar made the announcement in the presence of the army chief, General Dalbir Singh, the naval chief, Admiral R.K. Dhowan, the air force chief, Air Chief Marshal Aroop Raha and Defence Secretary G. Mohan Kumar.

Parrikar said that the OROP issue has been pending for four decades and this was a matter of deep anguish. He said that there were technical and financial difficulties in implementing it.

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News Network
January 7,2020

New Delhi, Jan 7: When a reign of terror was unleashed by "masked goons" in the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Sunday, Delhi Police registered two cases against varsity students union president Aishe Ghosh, who was badly injured in the attack, within a span of five minutes.

The registration of cases on two separate complaints against Ghosh and other students filed by JNU security department on January 3 and January 4 were registered on Sunday night when the violence was on, triggering questions about the motive behind the timing.

While the FIRs against Ghosh and others were registered between 8.44 pm and 8.49 pm after the JNUSU president was admitted to AIIMS, an FIR on the Sunday violence was registered on Monday at 5.36 am against unknown persons. The Sunday violence case has been transferred to Crime Branch for further investigations.

Questions are being raised over the registration of FIRs on Sunday while the complaints were filed on the previous days. Students allege that it was an afterthought from the police and authorities, as a nationwide outrage erupted as soon as the violence was reported.

Delhi Police is under attack for not coming to the aid of students targeted by the mob of ABVP activists armed with iron rods and sticks who went on a rampage on the campus. While no single person in the Sunday violence was arrested, the police are also accused of being a "mute spectator" by allowing the rioters to leave the campus without being arrested.

In its complaints, the JNU Security Department has alleged that Ghosh and others entered into a verbal and physical scuffle with security guards, including women, when officials tried to open the Centre for Information System (CIS) that was blocked by students protesting against the fee hike and registration process.

While the January 3 complaint claims that the students switched off the power supply to the CIS and evicted staff forcefully, the January 4 complaint alleged that they damaged the information system.

They also claimed the students damaged the servers, made it dysfunctional, severely damaged optic fibre cables and broke the biometric system in the CIS. The complaint also cited a Supreme Court order that prevented any protest within 100 metres of Administration Block and claimed the students violated the direction.

The FIR filed on Sunday violence on the basis of the statement of Inspector Anand Yadav said that the first phase of violence was reported at 3.45 pm when "40-50 unidentified" people who had "covered their faces" attacked students in Periyar Hostel and the situation was brought under control.

However at around 7 pm, "50-60 people with rods in their hands" targeted students in Sabarmati Hostel in which students were attacked and public property destroyed.

The FIR said that students were injured but skipped the mention of the attack on teachers, who were injured. At least two faculty members Sucharita Sen and Ameet Parameswaran were taken to AIIMS while several other teachers suffered minor injuries.

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News Network
February 11,2020

New Delhi, Feb 11: AAP leader Sanjay Singh on Tuesday said his party will register a "massive win" in the high-stakes Delhi Assembly election, counting for which began amid tight security at various centres set up to carry out the exercise.

Initial trends suggested the ruling Aam Aadmi Party marching ahead, but the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders maintained that their party would win.

The counting began at 8 am and will be held in multiple rounds, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ranbir Singh said.

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Agencies
May 4,2020

Mumbai, May 4: Days after Facebook, private equity firm Silver Lake said it will invest 56.56 billion rupees ($746.74 million) in Reliance Industries's digital arm, giving it a valuation of 4.90 trillion rupees. Silver Lake on Monday agreed to pay Rs 5,655.75 crore to buy 1.15 per cent stake in the firm that houses billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom arm Jio.

The investment in Jio Platforms comes within days of Facebook investing USD 5.7 billion to buy a 9.99 per cent stake in Jio Platforms. The investment is at a premium of 12.5 per cent to the Facebook deal.

"This investment values Jio Platforms at an equity value of Rs 4.90 lakh crore and an enterprise value of Rs 5.15 lakh crore and represents a 12.5 per cent premium to the equity valuation of the Facebook investment announced on April 22, 2020," Reliance said in a statement.

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