'Extend pension scheme to employees of all sectors'

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Jalandhar, November 24

“Why only government employees? All professions, including the private sector, should have a provision for the pension scheme,” says Anmol Bali, 23, a postgraduate in clinical psychology from Lovely professional University (LPU), Jalandhar, reacting to the Punjab Government notifying the Old Pension Scheme in place of the National Pension Scheme.

Narinder Singh, a postgraduate from Hoshiarpur, feels “The governments always work out the welfare scheme keeping in mind the financial implications.” A school teacher from Nawan Shehr, Kamal Kumar, says: “The pension debt sustainability in wake of an increasing ageing population would also mean burden on future generation”.

OPS entails 50% of last salary as pension

• Old Pension Scheme (OPS) entails 50% of the last basic salary drawn, along with other benefits like DA, as pension. New Pension Scheme (NPS) is a contribution based pension scheme introduced in January 2004 by the Centre
• Under NPS, an employee contributes at least 10% of his pay, which is matched by the govt contribution of 14%. The employee is allotted a Permanent Retirement Account Number
• The fund then is invested by fund managers. After retirement, employee can withdraw 60% of the corpus and the remaining 40% is paid to purchase an annuity or annual payment from a registered insurance firm

Angadjit Singh, a law graduate and student of masters in journalism and mass communication, stresses: “The Punjab Government has notified the Old Pension Scheme but till now has not given the exact details and the impact it will have on the state’s Budget”. He further says as Punjab is already a debt-ridden state, thus, it’s important for the government to give a clear picture.

Divyanshi, a political science student of DAV University, Jalandhar, says the old pension scheme was discontinued keeping in mind the financial burden. “The political parties for their benefits revive the scrapped schemes, without realising its long-term repercussions,” she adds, stressing for the government that will be in power after 2035, the OPS would prove to be a big burden.