New Delhi [India], August 1 : The Central Government currently has no proposal to tweak the current pension system, Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary informed Parliament in a written reply to a question on Tuesday.
A member asked the government whether it intends to assure its employees the pension of 40
per cent to 45 per cent of the last drawn salary replacing the existing market-linked pension.
“No such proposal is under consideration,” the minister replied in Rajya Sabha.
The government was also asked whether the committee constituted by it to review the current employee pension scheme has submitted its report, to which the minister replied, “No Sir.”
In March this year, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced that a committee will be set up under Finance Secretary to look into the National Pension System (NPS) for government employees.
Many Opposition-ruled states have reverted to the Old Pension Scheme, or are mulling to, in the face of demands from government employees and other pressure groups.
So far, Punjab, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Himachal Pradesh, and Jharkhand all Opposition-ruled states have reverted to the Old Pension Scheme while ignoring the new one which has been in place since 2004.
Under the old pension scheme, a government employee is entitled to a monthly pension after retirement. The monthly pension is typically half or near about the person's last drawn salary.
Under the new pension scheme, employees contribute a portion of their salaries to the pension fund. Based on that, they are entitled to a one-time lump sum amount on superannuation.
Notably, the old pension scheme was discontinued in December 2003, and the new pension scheme came into effect on April 1, 2004.
Disclaimer: This post has been auto-published from an agency feed without any modifications to the text and has not been reviewed by an editor