Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Thursday that the government would deliberate on restoring the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) once the committee constituted for the purpose submitted its report.
In 2022, the Congress-ruled States of Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan announced restoration of the Defined Pension Benefit Scheme or the OPS (DPBS/OPS). Trade unions and several employee organisations have been protesting in large numbers for restoration of the OPS.
Mr. Shah, while replying to a question on restoration of the OPS at a press conference in Jaipur, said, “We have constituted a committee to study the OPS. As soon as the committee submits its report, we will deliberate on it.”
Gehlot’s comment
Responding to Mr. Shah’s statement, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot posted on X, “While Congress guarantees OPS, BJP offers a committee. This is the difference between Congress and BJP, between guarantee and committee. Shah ji, we need a commitment, not a committee. We are giving a guarantee that now that the OPS has been implemented, we will make it permanent by framing a law. Public’s decision.”
On April 6, the Central government constituted a four-member committee led by the Finance Secretary to “look into the issue of pensions under the National Pension System [NPS] in respect of government employees and evolve an approach which addresses the needs of the employees while maintaining fiscal prudence to protect the common citizens.”
The OPS that assured life-long income, post-retirement, usually equivalent to 50% of the last drawn salary, was discontinued in 2004. Government bears the expenditure incurred on the pension under the OPS. The NPS is a participatory scheme where the employees contribute to their pension corpus from their salaries, with matching contribution from the government.
