As the Centre unveiled the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), assuring minimum pension after retirement, that will be implemented from April 1, 2025, the Karnataka government has asked a committee headed by an additional chief secretary to look into the matter and submit a report quickly, even as NPS employees in Karnataka have opposed the new scheme.
In Karnataka, about 2.78 lakh employees who joined work after April 1, 2006, under the NPS, besides a large number of those working in government-aided institutions, autonomous bodies, boards and corporations under the NPS, are seeking a rollback to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). While several states including Rajasthan, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Himachal Pradesh have exited the NPS and returned to OPS, the Congress had promised to look into the rolling back of NPS to OPS ahead of the Assembly elections in 2023. It set up a committee under the Additional Chief Secretary for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Anjum Parvez to look into the demand.
“We will examine the new scheme to study its effects because there is a demand for OPS (in Karnataka). We have asked the committee that is looking at the demand for OPS to look into the UPS and make suggestions,” said Additional Chief Secretary Finance L.K. Atheeq. He said that there could be an increased contribution from the government into the new scheme as it increased the employer’s contribution from 14 to 18%. “To that extent, we may have to shell out more. We are looking into this.” According to him, the UPS looked better than the NPS, but it has to be examined. When asked if any time frame had been fixed for the committee to submit its report, he said, “No time frame has been fixed. But we have asked the committee to give the report quickly.”
Earlier this year, the Karnataka government brought about 13,000 employees who were under the NPS to the OPS scheme. Their employment had been notified before April 1, 2006, but they had joined service after the start date of NPS.
Meanwhile, the president of Karnataka State Government NPS Employees Association Shantharam T. said that they would not settle for anything less than OPS. “The UPS is old wine in a new bottle and we do not see new things in it. We are rejecting it completely. A large quantum of money is spent on unproductive things by the ruling class. Why discriminate against us when it comes for pension?” He said that the National Movement for Old Pension, a national body co-founded by his association, is chalking out a response and will undertake another struggle against UPS and return to OPS.
