Birju Singh, 70, is busy discussing with his friends the announcement made by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on One Rank One Pension. They are all ex-servicemen, residents of Bapoda village in Haryana. It also happens to be the home to former army chief General VK Singh. Mr Birju Singh, who retired as a subedar in 1989, lost his left leg in a mine explosion during the 1971 war. He gets a monthly pension of over Rs. 20,000, but says that's not commensurate with what a retired subedar gets nowadays.
