A verbal clash of senior BJP leader L.K. Advani with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Lok Sabha on March 3 during the debate on the motion of thanks on the president's address has finally helped the lower ranks of ex-servicemen, ending their eight-month long wait for higher pension.

The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) had swung into action, snubbing bureaucrats sitting over the pension orders in the Ministry of Defence (MoD), after Advani accused the PM of lying in the Lok Sabha for saying that commitment he gave to ex-servicemen in his Independence Day address has been met.

Manmohan Singh had to admit in his reply to debate that two of the seven recommendations of a committee headed by the cabinet secretary had not yet been enforced but they will be also implemented "very soon." These were the very recommendations that met the sort of "one rank, one pension" demand.

The PMO made the MoD issue the orders early this week increasing pension of jawans and non-commissioned officers that will benefit some 12 lakh pensioners of the Armed Forces. The new orders also bring parity in pension and removing the anomaly of seniors drawing less than juniors.

The new orders enforce the committee recommendation to bring parity of pension among those retired before October 10, 1997 and those who retired after that date. The parity will be applicable to all persons below other ranks (PBORS) of the Army, Air Force and Navy, the order said.

The second part of the latest MoD instructions is to improve pensions as per the 2006 award of the Group of Ministers (GoM) which was also part of the committee's recommendations.

The two issues were hanging afire since early last year when the committee gave its recommendations. An attempt of the Congress to take the mileage in the Lok Sabha elections by getting a report published that the committee's recommendations on the demands of ex-servicemen had been cleared had even attracted the Election Commission's censure.