Dear Colleagues,
I have received a reply this month from the Defence Minister to my query as to why the widows have been kept out of the pension-enhancement of 2010. The response unfortunately is a mere repetition of the earlier communications from the government on this subject. It again states that since the pension is related to the last pay drawn, it cannot apply to the deceased. That is incomprehensible. The enhancement covered the pre-2006 retiree pensioners. The enhanced pension sanctioned for them after the Cabinet Secretary’s Committee recommendations, also has no relation to their last pay drawn. But then these are the ways of the bureaucracy!
The Civil Services aspirants these days have to take a filter written test before they can qualify for the competitive examination; this is apparently to cut down the number of applicants. In one of the mock question papers for this examination held in June 2011, there was a question on ‘one rank one pension’. OROP has acquired visibility.
Best regards,
Lt Gen (Emeritus) Raj Kadyan, PVSM, AVSM, VSM
Chairman IESM
