PM Modi meets union leaders ahead of Unified Pension Scheme announcement
After the meeting, as the announcement of the UPS came about, it split the members of the Joint Consultative Mechanism
Ahead of the announcement on the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), Prime Minister Narendra Modi met the staff side of the Joint Consultative Mechanism (JCM), the consultative body between Union government employees and the Centre. The meeting, which began around 6 p.m. on Saturday, lasted about one hour. Apart from Mr. Modi, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman also attended the meeting.
JCM secretary Shiv Gopal Mishra told The Hindu after the meeting that it was cordial and the Prime Minister had assured better coordination between the government and its employees. This is the first meeting Mr. Modi has had with representatives of government employees in his ten-year-long tenure. The Personnel Ministry had sent an invitation to Mr. Mishra and other members of the JCM to meet the Prime Minister at his official residence on Saturday. The JCM members had said that they would raise the issue of restoring the old pension scheme (OPS) in the meeting.
However, after the meeting, as the announcement of UPS came about, it split the JCM members. While Mr. Mishra welcomed it, JCM member and All India Defence Employees Federation general secretary C. Srikumar said government employees would not accept any pension formulation where contribution is mandatory.
The employees were demanding the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). “We are welcoming the UPS. This was our demand for long. UPS is more like OPS. Some of the government employees were retiring for a pension of a mere ₹4,000 or ₹5,000. Now, they will get a minimum of ₹10,000, which will be linked with dearness allowance,” Mr. Mishra said.
Mr. Srikumar said employees were waiting for the actual government order. “This is a result of our agitations. But we are not happy. It should be non-contributory,” he said, adding that employees who had joined the Union government up to December 31, 2003 were not contributing anything for their pension. “But from January 1, 2004, the employees have to contribute 10% of their basic pay and DA for getting pension. Pension is our right. We will continue our protests,” he said.
Under the OPS, an employee with 20 years service would get 50% of the last drawn basic pay as pension. “Now, it has been made 25 years, and the average is calculated of the basic pay of the last drawn salary of 12 months,” he said.
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wage and pension