Scrap NPS: It’s a ‘question of life and death’ for govt employees

NT Correspondent

Bengaluru: State government employees that fall under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) have begun an indefinite strike and staged a protest for the scrapping of the NPS at Freedom Park on Monday.

The NPS was introduced in order for the central government to get rid of pension liabilities. Under this scheme, government employees get to decide where they would like to invest their money. They can contribute regularly to a pension account throughout their career and withdraw a part of the pension amount after retirement.

In contrast to this, the old pension scheme had the government and employees contribute an equal portion to the pension fund. According to the old rules, the pension scheme involved paying 50 percent of the last drawn salary as the pension amount to a government employee.

Shantharam, the president of the Karnataka Government NPS Employees’ Association, has said that the scrapping of the NPS is a question of life and death for many. Over 50,000 people have participated in the indefinite agitation, he adds.

Many states such Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Rajasthan governments have withdrawn the NPS and have gone back to the older way of the old pension scheme, he explained. Over 2.6 lakh employees working in Karnataka as government servants come under the NPS scheme.

Shantharam has said that the NPS has already lost its original character as many amendments have come in since the time of its launch. He noted that some ex-servicemen and others who were appointed under the NPS and have retired are only receiving Rs 1,000 or Rs 1,500 as their pension. The protest is going to continue until a strong decision is made by the government.