Defence minister Manohar Parrikar said on Monday that the government will issue a notification clarifying the specifications of the One Rank One Pension scheme after the Bihar assembly elections. Parrikar said an announcement will be made after the Election Commission's model code of conduct is lifted in Bihar, possibly before Diwali, reported the Times of India. The five-phase Bihar elections will conclude on November 5 and the results will be declared on November 8, but the model code of conduct will be in place till November 12.

Veterans have been on a hunger strike at Delhi's Jantar Mantar for more than four months, demanding the implementation of OROP at the earliest. On Sunday, the protesting ex-servicemen sent a letter signed in blood to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, listing their demands. OROP is the idea that veterans' pensions will not be determined by their rank or the date on which they have retired.

The defence ministry had reinstated the OROP scheme in September, more than 43 years after the formula for calculating pensions for those retiring from India's armed forces was terminated. However, the veterans said that the government’s version had "seven serious shortcomings", which would nullify the definition of scheme.