On Friday, the Congress strongly criticized the government for what it deemed as an alarming increase in the rejection rates of Employees Provident Fund (EPF) final settlements. The party asserted that a prominent characteristic of the "anyay kaal" (era of injustice) of the past decade has been the failure of various communities to receive their rightful entitlements in full.
Jairam Ramesh, Congress's general secretary in-charge of communications, drew attention to a media report shared on X, which highlighted the surge in rejection rates of EPF final settlements. According to the report, these rejection rates have escalated from approximately 13 percent in 2017-18 to nearly 34 percent in 2022-23.
The defining feature of the Anyay-kaal of the last ten years has been that no community is able to get its full due: women are left out of the job market, the youth are unable to seek employment, and the farmers are unable to get adequate prices.
Even the shramik, the worker who earns his living through wages, is unable to access his/her own earnings. The EPFO, the Government-run organization that administers the Provident Fund for India’s workers, has seen a sharp rise in rejection rates for final settlement of Provident Fund (PF) claims. Around one in three claims for the final settlement of PF is now rejected up from 13% in 2017-18. Each rejection is a slap in the face for our working families, and a cause of immense stress and anguish to them, Ramesh posted on X.
The mismanaged shift to an online system for processing claims is the key reason for this denial. At least one retired worker has been driven to commit suicide by the insensitive and bureaucratic policies of the EPFO.