Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi: The Congress party has taken a sharp dig at the Modi government following the announcement of the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), branding it as yet another “U-turn” in the administration’s series of policy reversals. This criticism comes in the wake of the Union Cabinet’s recent approval of an assured pension of 50 percent of the salary for individuals who joined government service under the National Pension System (NPS) after January 1, 2004.
The Unified Pension Scheme, which was introduced just ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir, promises a pension of 50 percent of the last drawn salary. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, expressing his disapproval, stated, “The ‘U’ in UPS stands for Modi govt’s U-turns! Post June 4, the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister.”
Kharge further highlighted previous instances of the government’s policy changes, citing examples such as the rollback of the Long Term Capital Gain/Indexation policy in the budget, the referral of the Waqf Bill to the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), the retraction of the Broadcast Bill, and the reversal of the Lateral Entry initiative. “We will keep ensuring accountability and protect 140 crore Indians from this despotic government!” Kharge asserted in his post on X (formerly Twitter).
The new pension scheme guarantees a minimum pension of ₹10,000 per month upon superannuation after a minimum of 10 years of service. Initially, the scheme is set to benefit 23 lakh central government employees, with the potential to expand to 90 lakh if state governments opt to join.
Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, outlining additional features of the scheme, mentioned that it includes assured family pensions for the spouses of deceased employees. Furthermore, the scheme will apply inflation indexation to the assured pension, assured family pension, and the assured minimum pension. These enhancements mark a significant transformation of the National Pension System, which previously operated on contributions from both employees and the government.
This shift in pension policy occurs amidst several non-BJP states reverting to the DA-linked Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and growing demands from employee organizations in other regions for a return to the OPS. Under the old scheme, retired government employees received 50 percent of their last drawn salary as a monthly pension, which increased with the dearness allowance (DA) rate hikes. However, the OPS has faced criticism for being fiscally unsustainable due to its non-contributory nature, which places an increasing burden on the exchequer.
