Mr. Nobody's perspective on OROP (One Rank One Pension) in an Army veteran's words

So we are shamelessly back again with one more "no"issue which we may not think that you will be enjoying since you have so much to enjoy in the form of saas-bahu, naag-naagin, and whatnot type of entertainment serials whose stories are also repeated in the prime time "news" channels of our country.  But since we never ever care about our TRPs, we will as usual follow the right way rather than the easy way and bring forth the issues which you will never even bother to care since you are not even appraised of the situation by our "paid" media.  But first of all, we would like to kindly go through this article which has been posted by a retired Army veteran regarding the One-Rank-One-Pension scheme (OROP).  Due to space constraints, we will not be discussing what is OROP over here since there is too much literature available on the internet for anybody willing to read about it.  What we are bringing forth is the pain of a man and many more like him who have fought; served; lived but not lived; debilitated their body, mind, and soul; and dedicated their entire lives to either save the country from external and internal threats or conducting rescue operations in natural calamities ranging from earthquakes to floods.  We hope this article by retired Colonel S. S. Cheema will at least stir your conscience and God forbid if every serving defence/paramilitary personnel becomes frustrated like this, then our country will not go to the dogs but will definitely go to the ISIS!  So here goes:-

"OROP

I do feel ashamed to ask for OROP. At the end of all this what did I really do? Of course, I did one tenure of Leh, flying at 20,000 feet plus altitude, then one tenure flying at North Sikkim again at 20,000 feet plus of altitude (with no integrated Oxygen masks, which my country could not procure for 22 years I was in uniform) and one ground tenure at Gurez - oh that ? it was only at 14,000 feet stay for 2 years - a cake walk. The doctors do advice there should be no more than 2 tenures at high altitude - but I am sure they would have some vested interests in saying so. But then look at the hardships of my counterpart bureaucrat - He had tough decisions to make - there were power cuts every now and then in those days over and above he had to handle the pressure of politicians, and imagine the pressure of getting some tons of money home and trying to hide it. He could not comfortably sleep over it as they poked his back through the mattresses. He was living in perpetual fear. Anyone can nab him - that no one did as long as he did not become overly greedy is another part of it. What pressures did I have - believe me - NONE, I laughed and LIVED my life to the fullest when I was up there, and when I was down here. I stood on the bund of my bunker after two drinks and threw best of my abuses to our adversary - of course who would have been stupid to shooting me down - a Paki ? forget it - those bastards could never aim straight. And then I had so much activity to choose from, how could I not live to the fullest - I mean. There was a competition with my senior subaltern as to who can cross the LOC and piddle in the enemy territory in the middle of the night. Bloody hell we could not decide the winner because both crossed over and did the thing, We had to repeat it for a week before we were caught by our company commander. Now imagine the hardships of my counterpart - close your eyes once again and think - Blood pressure and the diabetes of long and stressful working hours. No entertainment other than a few clubs, drinking sessions and back to his home. How could I not think about those poor souls ? Dying at 90 (in Chair) doing their good work because a bureaucrat, a Judge and a politician never really retires. He works and dies in chair - after all, there are so many studies, one man panels to study and planning commissions to sit too. If he continues getting his house, a few servants (aka Helpers) and a vehicle to run around - he deserves it. If he really gets sick of it and decides to retire (an honest) bureaucrat would have only 200 odd crores at his disposal - he can only buy a small house and live his remainder life in poor perpetuity. My discomforts are just my imagination because I cannot remember number, name and I have a loss of words when I am speaking. Doctor said that it may be “High Altitude Affect” where the rare air has low Oxygen levels and kills the brain cells. (I was really good in my hey days with numbers at least). Oh! he has to be wrong. In any case, I would have got memory loss within another few years.  So why the hell should I attribute it to hard service conditions?And then my demand is more so unfair when I heard our Prime Minister Mr. Modi say that the OROP is at the cost of the poor of our country. Imagine the millions of FREE mobiles, laptops, TV that could have been distributed to the poor. Imagine the poor could have been lifted from their poverty (what has not happened for last 60 years) in one stroke of the money being set aside of OROP. He could have bought a better Jet, better and more secure multimillion dollar cars - after all he is now the Prime Minister of the fastest growing nation and has to live his life so. And then why do I deserve OROP as I quit my job only after 22 years? I did not serve to my last day of retirement. Well I should have continued. So what if I lost my mother and my father (Also a retired Fauji) was all alone and his second son was also serving in Fauj? He could have always stayed alone - after all he was from Infantry and could have done so for some more years of his life. Because I was a Fauji and in anyways due to posting to field - my wife and children could have shifted with him. That besides the point that none of the school was forthcoming to give my daughter and son admission. They (Like me) had no permanent friends as till class 9th they had changed 8 schools.There is another thing that I overlook - I chose to be Fauji - why should I crib? I signed a bond when I entered NDA at the age of 17. I should have read more carefully. That besides the point that most of these bureaucrats were studying hard for IAS and other services at this age and their mothers were still wiping the shit off their ass.The Politicians and the Bureaucrats are fighting a battle and not looking at the bigger picture. I pray to almighty that this fight should not change the outlook of the serving Faujis - They (Bureaucrats and Politicians) may win this battle - but they will lose the war and the nation will suffer. But then who cares ? like shit anyone does. I was an idiot all along and hope to die believing that this nation is mine…. - Oh and me I am a proud Col S S Cheema (retd)It is indeed a sad day for me. My Grand father was in army, my father retired from army, my brother retired from army - and I have told my son - you will join Armed forces over my dead body...."

We, from Ethmos, personally apologize to you Sir for having brought the situation for breeding these thoughts in your mind and in the minds of many like you who have given their everything for worthless animals like us.

So, for our Honorable government as well as the cribbing media who thinks that the cost of OROP, which is estimated at Rs. 8,000 to Rs. 12,000 Crores is too big and demanding for our poor junta, here is the solution (which we have already mentioned in our numerous previous articles but repeat at the cost of repetition):-

1.  Kill the "cash-based" economy - Make the public (we are pointing towards the business-class public over here) to COMPULSORILY transact anything above Rs. 20,000/- through cheque and account transfers.  This provision is already given in section 40A of Income Tax Act 1961 but our babus never care to enforce this section because they are too busy collecting their haftas from the public.  Since it will take a generation to change the babus, what the government can do is a BLANKET BAN on any cash withdrawals or deposits above Rs. 20,000/- in any Bank/Financial Institution/Organization.  How will this effect OROP?  He he he...this will lead to documentation of transactions in the bank accounts and better tax compliance and higher tax collection.  If we are correct in our financial maths calculations, this will directly and indirectly lead to more than doubling of our tax revenues (which is presently only Rs. 5.45 lakh crores from direct taxes, a.k.a. income tax).  Furthermore, link all the tax departmental servers into an integrated central taxation server system wherein the returns filed by any businessman can be cross-checked/verified/scrutinized by all the tax departments because most of times, only big businessman are paying anything of the sort of Sales Tax, VAT, Service Tax, etc. while the small and medium guys just get free by paying the regular income tax without declaring their correct turnovers. (More details on this later in our forthcoming articles).

2.  Kill the corruption-based economy - make corruption a non-bailable cognizable offence regardless of the rank and position of the official.  A longer and harder stick is required when the bull is out of control - common sense of course!

3. Introduce the Bank Transaction Tax system wherein the tax is collected based on type of transaction, which is will improve tax collection as well as reporting system.

4.  Curtail the British Raj era systems of providing mansions and palaces along with chauffeur-driven vehicles to civil servants.  We received independence nearly 68 years back and need not pamper a few people for doing what is duly their duty to be done for which they are being paid and rewarded handsomely.  How will this affect OROP?  Again, it will lead to huge cost savings.  Presently, a Group A service officer (like IAS, IPS, etc.) is entitled to travelling by an Innova car which consumes a liter of diesel for every 8 to 10 km it runs.  Why can't we replace it with a fuel-efficient car like Tata Indica? (of course, it will be low on the style and aura quotient but will do as well at less than half the cost, since the purpose is to travel rather than flaunt your power).  Furthermore, for any small family to live, a 3-BHK or 4-BHK apartment/house/villa is more than sufficient - why spare an entire acre of real-estate to again pamper these people who have the habit of getting so since the Raj era because the primary idea of the Britishers was to "crush the mass by empowering the class."  The space saved can be used for more productive revenue-generating activities like tax-collection centers, schools, hospitals, and what not.

Dear PM and FM Sirs,

These are just some of the suggestions that we put forward to you so that nobody can cry hoarse that we don't have enough money to pay these gentlemen who have given more to us than we can ever repay them.  Please at least treat them with the honor they so genuinely deserve.

Thanks and happy Ethmos to you all!