Asserting that higher pensions for the armed forces had already been implemented,Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday said BJP leader L K Advanis contention that One Rank-One Pension (OROP) promise was yet to be met was not correct. Advaniji had also raised the issue of one rank-one pension to ex-servicemen. He has stated that the commitment I made in my last years Independence Day speech and Finance Ministers promise in his budget speech of July 6,2009,have not been honoured. This is not correct, Singh told the Lok Sabha. He was replying to a debate on the Motion of Thanks to the Presidents address. The factual position is that we had constituted a committee under the Cabinet Secretary to look into the issue of one rank-one pension and other related matters. The committee did not recommend OROP, he said. The Prime Minister said the government had accepted whatever the committee had recommended to substantially enhance the pensionary benefits of personnel below officer rank and commissioned officers. This is what I had stated in my Independence Days speech. The recommendations which have been accepted cover what the Finance Minister had promised in his Budget speech of 2009, he said. Of the seven recommendations that the committee made,five had been implemented. The two recommendations which have not been implemented will be implemented very soon, he added.
