The present struggle for fulfilling the promises on OROP is again only a symptom; the real ‘disease’ lies hidden elsewhere (“Missing the bigger picture on OROP”, Aug.27). The reforms era in India has witnessed a total neglect of the public sector and government employees. It served well for certain vested and some political interests. The Centre, even before there was any legislative sanction, discontinued a well-established pension scheme, effective January 1, 2004 through a notification. Even at that time, the government was aware of the sensitivities of the issue and shrewdly excluded the defence services while making the ‘New Pension Scheme’ applicable to all Central government employees. The ‘divide and rule’ worked and employees on the rolls, as on December 31, 2003, were not affected; the protest from unions was feeble. Gradually, NPS was forced on most of the public sector organisations and State government employees and by the time the real legislative sanction through enactment of the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority came through, it was just regularising all that was done. The nation is now paying the price for the government’s wrong approach to a social security arrangement for employees in the organised sector.
M.G. Warrier,Mumbai
