For the first time ever, India's Defence Budget for year 2020-2021 allocates more money towards pensions for retired army soldiers and widows (Rs 113,278 crore) than for salaries for soldiers still in the standing army (Rs 111,294 crore) [News].
The "pension" budget has steadily risen since the grant of One Rank, One Pension (OROP) by Modi Government in 2015-2016. That year, it was Rs 60,000 crore for the entire military. For 2020-2021, it will stand at Rs 1.33 trillion.
It is obvious to think that the money spent on pension could otherwise have gone towards equipment modernization. But pension is one of the major attractive features of joining Army and it does provide safety and help to the Army men's families. At the same time Army should think of ways in which this burden could be reduced. For example, if an army man's widow is already working and earning good salary, should she get pension? On the other hand, a widow who is totally dependent on pension for survival should get higher pension. But such level of scrutiny and management of funds would be difficult to achieve.
Politically speaking, OROP was a demand from retired army men for many decades. During previous tenure when BJP led government passed the bill, many political parties and retired army men too accused the govt of not implementing it in the letters as per their wish. But this year's very high pension budget should serve as a reminder to the retired army men or veterans that BJP government has done the best they could. India is still a developing country and we need not increase our defense budget so much that it starts impacting budget allocation to other areas like education and healthcare.
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