New Delhi:Thousands of government employees went to the National Capital to protest against the current pension scheme and implement the old pension scheme.
According to the protesting employees, “we spend a major part of our life (35-40 years) in service of the government and every employees has the right to live with respect which is mentioned in our constitution but the governments are under pressure of financial institutions like World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) is ending the pension schemes. After January 1,2004 National Pension Scheme (NPF) was implemented among employees serving in the state and centre.”
The protestors claimed that if a person is elected as a corporator, lawmaker or parliamentarian, they are eligible for pension even if that person has assumed office only for a day.
Why Government employees demand Old Pension Scheme
# The old pension scheme has Government Provident Fund (GPF).
# Prescribed deduction of 8.33%.
# GPF can be withdrawn any number of times.
# On retirement, the whole amount is given to the employee without levelling any taxes.
# On the death of employee, pension is guaranteed.
# Full amount of GPF is under the control of government.
The massive protest was joined by several organisations including Indian Railways Employees Federation (IREF) and National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS).
Sita Rani, a Indian Railways retired employee assumed office in January 3, 2004 and retired in September 30, 2014 and her last salary was Rs 24328 but after retirement she is getting a sum Rs 1044 as pension.
