8th Pay Commission: Will civil servants also get OROP? Demand raised

While the recommendations of the 8th Pay Commission are awaited, a question has arisen in the minds of older pensioners: will they receive equal benefits? Consequently, they have demanded OROP.

Central government employees and pensioners are eagerly awaiting the recommendations of the 8th Pay Commission. Amidst this, these government employees and pensioners have placed a major demand before the commission: OROP, or 'One Rank, One Pension'.

Employee associations want all employees who retired from the same rank and with the same length of service—regardless of the year of retirement—to receive roughly the same pension.

What is 'One Rank, One Pension'?

'One Rank, One Pension' (OROP) is a system wherein employees who served for the same duration at the same rank or level receive a nearly identical pension. The year of retirement is not a factor in this calculation. The objective of OROP is to eliminate such disparities in pension amounts.

What did the employee associations say?

Recently, C. Srikumar, General Secretary of the All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), discussed this system with ET Wealth Online. He stated regarding OROP, "Implementing 'One Rank, One Pension' could eliminate the disparity in pensions among central government employees who retired from the same rank at different times."

Meanwhile, Manjeet Singh Patel, President of the All India New Pension Scheme Employees Federation, also spoke to ET Wealth Online on this issue. He noted, "Despite older pensioners receiving the benefit of periodic pension hikes through pay commissions, there remains a significant gap in the pension amounts received by different pensioners."

Were attempts made during previous pay commissions as well?

Efforts to bridge this gap have been made during previous pay commissions as well. The 5th Pay Commission recommended revising the pensions of employees who retired prior to 1986 in accordance with the then-new pay scales. This involved a process known as ‘notional pay fixation’—essentially recalculating the pension on paper based on the new pay structure.

Furthermore, the 7th Pay Commission acknowledged the need to gradually bridge the gap between older and newer pensioners. To ensure parity between existing pensioners and those retiring at the time, the Commission proposed a new method for calculating pensions.

It is worth noting that under the current system, OROP (One Rank, One Pension) is not applicable to all central government employees; it primarily covers the armed forces and certain other categories. There are now demands to extend this policy to all central government civil employees under the 8th Pay Commission.