Why is the BJP government playing the Unified Pension Scheme?

Beginning with the upcoming fiscal year, the program ensures government workers get a pension equal to 50% of their average basic pay accrued during their final year of service, along with progressive increases in Dearness Allowance (DA) payments. For workers who began their employment in 2004 or after, UPS will now be an option; nevertheless, the current National Pension Scheme (NPS) will still be available. 10% of an employee’s base pay must be contributed to NPS, with the government matching the remaining 14%. The government’s share will rise to 18.5% under UPS, while employees of the Central government will still be required to contribute 10% of their base pay and DA.

The government has extended its reach to people who work mostly in the bureaucracy, since just 23 lakh Central government employees are eligible for the benefits. But the action also offers a model that state governments, PSUs (public sector organizations), and central universities established by parliamentary acts can use in the years to come.

Recognized for establishing a support base among the impoverished through widely reported programs like providing free 5-kg food grains to 80 crore families, houses, and gas cylinders for the underprivileged, the Modi administration has now, for the first time, provided significant relief to the middle class segment employed in government, even though private sector workers have not had much to smile about over the past ten years. With this, a welfare-focused administration that goes beyond helping the impoverished has been established.

This action bears some similarities to the Sixth Pay Commission’s large increase in government salaries throughout the Congress’s tenure. The current administration has not changed income tax slabs as frequently as the Congress-led UPA government did in order to help the middle class with paid salaries.

Taking a jab at the Center, Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said on Sunday that the “U” in UPS stood for the Modi Government’s U turns! Following June 4, the people’s will has triumphed over the prime minister’s conceit. Budgetary Rollbacks: Long-Term Capital Gain/Indexation; Waqf Bill Submission to JPC; Broadcast Bill Rollback; Lateral Entry Rollback. We shall continue to uphold accountability and defend the 140 million Indians against this autocratic regime!”

The Speaker and Cabinet members’ selections indicate that Prime Minister Modi wishes to project stability, but other recent moves by the government demonstrate that the BJP is significantly more cognizant of public opinion following its loss of 63 seats in the Lok Sabha. “I want to ask Rahul Gandhi — has his government implemented the Old Pension Scheme as promised in Himachal Pradesh?” BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad retaliated against the Congress. The Congress party lacked the bravery to highlight the evident deception of its pension pledge in its manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections because it has grown so frightened of it.

The Congress promised a return to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) during the last two years’ Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Rajasthan, but it left it out of its Lok Sabha manifesto. Although UPS and OPS are not the same, its retirement benefits are said to be more comparable.