M A I N   N E W S

Pension Scheme
Left against fund managers’ appointment
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 20
Top leaders of four Left parties today shot off an angry letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to put on hold the process of appointing pension fund managers initiated by the interim Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA).

Signatories to the letter — CPM general secretary Prakash Karat, CPI general secretary A.B Bardhan, All-India Forward Block General Secretary Debabrata Biswas and Revolutionary Socialist Party secretary Abani Roy — took strong exception to the Finance Ministry’s approval of sponsoring a pension fund under the New Pension Scheme (NPS).

They suggested that the funds should instead be placed with the Employees Provident Fund Organisation “till a final decision is taken on the NPS.” They questioned the wisdom of the union Finance Ministry in allowing the interim PFRDA to go ahead with invitation of bids for sponsoring the pension fund under NPS.

The Left is opposed to NPS, which would be based on contribution by the employees, and have said only public sector entities should be entrusted with the task of managing the pension funds.

“As you are aware, the Left parties have been opposed to the PFRDA Bill. We have had a number of rounds of discussions on the matter in the UPA government-Left Coordination meeting…The Bill has not been taken for adoption pending this. It is, therefore, surprising that the PFRDA has proceeded to operationalise the pension scheme. We wish to register our strong disapproval of this move," the Left leaders said in their letter.

The government has claimed that 19 states except three Left ruled states — West Bengal, Kerala and Tripura — have embraced the NPS and are eagerly awaiting operationalisation of the scheme. The Left leaders said in their letter that they apprehended that the PFRDA move was aimed at putting in place some of the objectionable features of the Bill.

The PFRDA has already appointed National Securities Depository Limited (NSDL) as the central record keeping agency and invited preliminary bids to appoint pension fund managers. The last date for submitting expression of interest is May 25. Once the pension fund managers are appointed, PFRDA will allow them access to the pension funds of employees of central government and state governments.