The government has ruled out the possibility of additional financial burden of Rs 8,000-10,000 crore due to One Rank One Pension (OROP) scheme hurting the fiscal consolidation programme, saying there was 'space' to absorb it Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha has said that 'We have the fiscal space to be able to absorb this without having any impact of the fiscal deficit target of 3.9 percent. We have taken that into account as we have prepared the OROP scheme.
Last week, the government had announced that it will implement OROP under which a uniform pension would be given to armed forces personnel retiring at the same rank with the same length of service and pension for defence personnel would be revised every five years. The scheme would be implemented from July 1, 2014. The arrears would be paid in four half-yearly installments. However, all widows, including war widows, will be paid in one installment. There are estimated 6.5 lakh war widows and over 27 lakh ex-defence personnel who will benefit from the OROP scheme.
Jayant Sinha also stated that the actual payout in arrears for implementation of the scheme from July 1, 2014 as well as the recurring burden is being worked out. For the current year, the outgo is estimated at Rs 8,000-10,000 crore. In the current financial year, the government aims to restrict fiscal deficit at 3.9 percent of GDP. As per the fiscal consolidation road map, the fiscal deficit is to be brought down to 3 percent of GDP by 2017-18.
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