The retired armed forces personnel's long-pending demand for "one rank, one pension" got backing of a Rajya Sabha committee on petitions in a report tabled early this week, asserting that the financial liability of Rs 1,300 crores is not very big amount to deny the parity in pension.
The committee rejected the Finance Ministry's apprehension that acceptance of the demand for equal pension to personnel of equal rank and equal length of service will trigger similar request from other government employees.
"Terms and conditions of the two are vastly different and much harsher and difficult for the military," it noted.
"The defence services serve the nation with utmost devotion and selflessness but their demands are consistently being ignored, not by the heads of the Armed Forces but by bureaucrats. It is a typical example of bureaucratic apathy," the committee said.
It went on to remind the government that the ruling Congress and many other parties have promised the "one rank, one pension" to the ex-servicemen in their election manifesto but forgotten thereafter.
