Revision of pension of armed forces personnel commendable move: Yogi Adityanath

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath Saturday termed the revision of the pension of armed forces personnel under the ‘One Rank One Pension’ scheme by the Union Cabinet a “commendable move”.

According to the defence ministry, the decision taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet on Friday presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will result in an additional annual expenditure of Rs 8,450 crore.

It said Rs 23,638 crore will be paid as arrears to the pensioners from July 2019 to June 2022.

“Heartfelt gratitude to respected Prime Minister Narendra Modi for this decision benefiting more than 25 lakh ex-servicemen and their families,” Adityanath was quoted as saying in an official release on Saturday.

Pension of past pensioners would be re-fixed based on the average of minimum and maximum pension of defence forces retirees of the calendar year 2018 in the same rank with the same length of service.

The armed forces personnel retired up to June 30, 2019 (excluding that retired pre-maturely with effect from July 1, 2014, will be covered under this revision, according to the defence ministry.

More than 25.13 lakh (including over 4.52 lakh new beneficiaries) pensioners and family pensioners will be benefitted from the decision, it said.