KOHIMA, April 27 (PTI): An organisation of employees of central and various state governments, who are under the New Pension Scheme (NPS), on Thursday asserted that its members will support any party which will bring back the old pension system in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, if their demand for restoring the old system is not met soon.
In the election next year, around eight crore people who are family members of 84 lakh government employees under NPS will vote for the party that will restore OPS, said National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS) president Dr Manjeet Singh Patel.
“The central government implemented the NPS on January 1, 2004, for its employees. Subsequently, it was adopted by several other states. We want restoration of the Old Pension Scheme.
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“If we don’t get justice, we will definitely try to change the government by supporting whichever party supports the OPS,” Patel told a press conference here.
He said that state chapters of NMOPS will take out a march to Parliament in September 2023 demanding rollback of the new pension scheme.
Confederation of All Nagaland State Service Employees Association (CANSSEA) president Dr Ilang said they support the demand raised by the NMOPS.
The Nagaland government also implemented the NPS in 2010 and till now there are 32,111 employees under the NPS, he said.
“Pension is a right of the government employees for old age social security post-retirement,” Ilang said.
Employees of several state governments have been demanding the OPS be brought back.
Under the OPS, a government employee gets a monthly pension equivalent to 50 per cent his/her last drawn salary. There was no need for contribution by employees. Under the NPS, a state government employee contributes 10 per cent of his/her basic salary plus dearness allowance with the state making a matching contribution.
The money is then invested in one of the several pension funds approved by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority and returns are market-linked.
