Lok Sabha Question No. 2138 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2025-08-01
Subject: Implementation of One Rank One Pension
Ministry: DEFENCE
Asked by: Shri K E Prakash

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

## DEPARTMENT OF EX-SERVICEMEN WELFARE

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2138

TO BE ANSWERED ON 01.08.2025

## IMPLEMENTATION OF ONE RANK ONE PENSION

2138. SHRI K E PRAKASH:

Will the Minister of DEFENCE be pleased to state:

- (a)  the  current  status  of  implementation  of  One  Rank One Pension (OROP) including the number of cases pending for resolution;
- (b)  the  details  of  technological/administrative  improvements  made  in  the  SPARSH  portal during the last two years to facilitate timely pension disbursement; and
- (c) the extent of pension arrears owed to ex-servicemen particularly in rural districts of Tamil Nadu such as Erode, Tiruppur and Namakkal?

## A  N  S  W  E  R

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

(SHRI SANJAY SETH)

- (a) Revision of Pension of Armed Forces Personnel has been done in every five years w.e.f 01.07.2014 under One Rank One Pension (OROP) Scheme. Accordingly, second and third  revision  under  OROP  has  been  done  w.e.f  01.07.2019  and  01.07.2024  respectively. Arrears  on  account  of  OROP-I  and  OROP-II  have  already  been  paid  to  all  eligible beneficiaries of Defence Forces Personnel. The revision of pension and arrears thereof have been paid to 25.20 lakh eligible pensioners under OROP-III.
- (b) Details of technological and administrative improvements made in the SPARSH portal during the last two years are as under: -
- (i) SPARSH (System for Pension Administration-Raksha), launched in October 2020, is a 'Digital India' initiative of the Government of India that aims to provide  a  comprehensive,  transparent  and  efficient  solution  for  managing Defence pensions, including sanctioning and disbursing pensions to Armed Forces Personnel and Defence Civilians across India.
- (ii) At  present,  more  than  31  lakh  Defence  Pensioners  (Including  Service  and Defence Civilian pensioners) are onboarded on SPARSH and their pensions are directly credited into their bank accounts by SPARSH.

- (iii) The modules developed during last two years in SPARSH are (a) Reservist Penison, (b) Invalid Pension, (c) Pro-rata Pension for PBOR, (d) LTA (Life Time Arrears), (e) Fixed Medical Allowance (FMA) updation, (f) IT saving for Jeevan Raksha Padak and (g) Integration with TRACES for generation of Form-16, etc.
- (iv) SPARSH has been enabled to make payment of pension to Nepal-Domiciled Gorakhas (NDGs) pensioners. NDG pensioners can now draw their pension from Nepal SBI Bank and Everest Bank Ltd. In order to extend services of SPARSH to NDG / NRI pensioners, a dedicated email id has been created.
- (v) Tech Improvements in SPARSH portal include improvement in bandwidth to 256  MBPS  and  increase  in  storage  from  600  GB  to  200  TB.  The  Mobile Application has been also improved.
- (c) Pension arrears owed to ex-servicemen residing in rural districts of Tamil Nadu is not maintained. However, the extent of pension arrears (OROP II & OROP III) paid to ex-servicemen, particularly in rural districts of Tamil Nadu such as Erode, Tiruppur and Namakkal is as under:

| OROP-II Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   | OROP-II Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   | OROP-II Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   | OROP-II Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   | OROP-II Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   |
|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|-----------------------------------------------------|
| Name                                                | Total No. of eligible pensioners                    | Total No. of beneficiary pensioners                 | Total No. of Non- beneficiary pensioners            | Amount of Arrear paid (in Rs.)                      |
| Erode                                               | 821                                                 | 728                                                 | 93                                                  | 70856122                                            |
| Triuppur                                            | 5                                                   | 2                                                   | 3                                                   | 89742                                               |
| Namakkal                                            | 757                                                 | 647                                                 | 110                                                 | 59166060                                            |

| OROP-III Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   | OROP-III Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   | OROP-III Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   | OROP-III Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   | OROP-III Data in r/o districts of Tamil Nadu State   |
|------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------------------|
| Name                                                 | Total No. of- eligible pensioners                    | Total No. of beneficiary pensioners                  | Total No. of Non- beneficiary pensioners             | Amount of Arrear paid (in Rs.)                       |
| Erode                                                | 1389                                                 | 1128                                                 | 261                                                  | 7353054                                              |
| Triuppur                                             | 18                                                   | 15                                                   | 3                                                    | 106426                                               |
| Namakkal                                             | 1186                                                 | 985                                                  | 201                                                  | 5115264                                              |

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