Retired members of the paramilitary services held a dharna at the Jantar Mantar in Delhi on Monday, demanding One Rank One Pension benefits and other privileges under the ex-servicemen category. The protest began at 10 am after the government did not respond to a memorandum sent to them by an association of paramilitary services, which includes the Border Security Force, Services Selection Board, Central Industrial Security Force and the Central Reserve Police Force, among others.

The All India Central Paramilitary Forces and ex-Servicemen Welfare Association’s demanded that OROP be granted to its veterans, in addition to exempting them from the contributory pension scheme and extending all the benefits to them that are given to ex-servicemen. About nine lakh personnel serve these forces, the association’s general secretary PS Nair told Daily News Analysis.

The OROP scheme implies the payment of a uniform pension to personnel retiring in the same rank with the same length of service, regardless of the date on which they retired. At present, pensioners who retired before 2006 draw a lower pension than their counterparts and juniors who retired afterwards.