Joint Meet of state Govt employees’ associations held in demand of scrapping of NPS and reintroduction of OPS

Oct. 9: A Joint Meeting of leaders/ representatives of different branches of Assam Government Employees’ associations was organised by Sadou Asom Sarkari NPS Karmachari Sangstha in association with Assam College Teachers’ Association (ACTA) at ACTA House in Guwahati on Saturday.

ACTA was represented by its President Biswajit Bhuyan, General Secretary Himangshu Maral, Assistant Secretary (Academic) Dr. Anupam Dutta and CEC member of Kamrup(M) Zone Dr. Deben Bora. In the said meeting detailed discussion was held as regards scrapping of New Pension Scheme (NPS) and reintroduction of Old Pension Scheme (OPS).

The OPS is a defined pension initiative of the Government of India while the NPS is a contributory pension scheme without any defined benefits. The NPS has been applicable for all central/ state government staff who had joined service on or after January 1, 2004. National Pension System (NPS) is a retirement benefit Scheme introduced by the Government of India to facilitate a regular income post retirement to all the subscribers. PFRDA (Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority) is the governing body for NPS.

Meanwhile, Government employees throughout the country have registered their protest against the newly introduced National Pension Scheme (NPS).

Though NPS was introduced in 2004, but resistance to it is peaking of late. Since the NPS covers employees recruited after 1 January 2004 and the age of retirement is 60, most employees are yet to avail the new pension. As per the NPS regime they can withdraw 60% of their pension contribution in bulk and out of the remaining 40% they estimated that a small monthly amount will come to them as pension after remitting 10% of their salary every month! So the paltriness of the NPS scheme is gradually dawning upon them and so the anger mounts.