Vasco: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar who completed a year in office on Monday said that his single biggest achievement in the last one year was the implementation of the One Rank, One Pension (OROP) scheme. He said that retired Army personnel who are returning their medals in protest against OROP have been misguided.
“I cannot stop what they are doing but I want to make it clear that the demand which was not considered in the last 50 years has been more or less completed. Initially there was some confusion on voluntarily retirement scheme (VRS), even that clause has been removed and now everyone will be eligible under the scheme,” Parrikar said.
The Defence minister added that the protesting ex-servicemen should put their grievances before the Pay Commission. “Soldiers don’t return medals. I can understand the agitation but I cannot understand continuation of emotional issues brought to the fore after a major part of the demand is accepted. For me getting OROP with this financial tightness due to global slowdown was not an easy task as no commitment of Rs 8000 crore is generally accepted by any government,” he said.
“After all this, one need not return the medals. However if anyone still wants to do the same then I cannot stop anyone form protesting but can only say that he is being misguided,” Parrikar said, speaking at the commissioning ceremony of ICGS Samarth.
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‘Indian sea and coasts safer than borders’
Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said that detection of smuggling, trafficking, piracy on the high seas has increased compared to past.
“We need to be alert and thus Coast Guard’s capacity build up (final requirement) is now almost more than 70 percent complete with every month one ship added to its fleet. This year 25 ships have been added to the fleet so one can see the speed in which we are moving,” Parrikar said.
“I am sure that with the capabilities of Coast Guard and Indian Navy, today the Indian sea and the coast have become safer than the borders. Many times when we think of national security we think of borders and not of seas where a number of activities are currently going on but I can assure everyone that the Coast Guard and Indian Navy will keep it safe,” he said.
