“Forward ever, backward never: onwards with Breaking Through”

 09/08/2023

The "Pension Rights Maharally," scheduled for August 10, 2023

Government Employees Nationwide Rally for Old Pension Scheme Restoration at Ramlila Ground, New Delhi
New Delhi, August 10, 2023 – Government employees from every corner of India are set to assemble at Ramlila Ground in New Delhi on August 10, 2023, to advocate for the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme. This significant event comes in response to a call from the “Joint Forum for Restoration of Old Pension Scheme (JFROPS)/NJCA,” a coalition of organizations that have been actively pushing for the reinstatement of the scheme.
The momentum behind this movement can be traced back to decisions made during a pivotal National Convention organized by the JFROPS/NJCA. The convention took place on January 1, 2004, at “Pyare Lal Bhavan” in New Delhi, paving the way for an ongoing, determined struggle at both the central and state levels to bring back the Old Pension Scheme.
Shiva Gopal Mishra, NJCA Convenor and General Secretary of AIRF, underscored the significance of the gathering during a press conference in New Delhi. Employees who entered government service after January 1, 2004, have been vocal in their opposition to the New Pension Scheme. Their concerns about future financial security have been exacerbated by the exclusion of colleagues who joined service after that date from the Old Pension Scheme. Instead, they have been compelled to adopt the New Pension Scheme, raising apprehensions about post-retirement sustenance.
The formation of the “Joint Forum for Restoration of Old Pension Scheme (JFROPS)/NJCA” has been a direct response to these issues. The organization has orchestrated a series of impactful demonstrations, rallies, and torch processions, spanning from local levels to the iconic Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Memorandums outlining their demands have been presented to district officials, State Governors, Cabinet secretaries, and even the Prime Minister.
The “Pension Rights Maharally,” scheduled for August 10, 2023, at Ramlila Ground, New Delhi, holds the promise of a substantial turnout. Employees from various sectors, including Central and State government bodies, Education, Railway, Teachers, Defence, Ex. Para Military Force, and PSU’s, are expected to converge to voice their demand for the revival of the Old Pension Scheme.
Shiva Gopal Mishra, Convenor of NJCA, reiterated the collective sentiment of government employees who are weary of what they perceive as detrimental government policies. He emphasized that the leaders, entitled to the Old Pension, should not be denied to employees who have dedicated their lives to public service. Mishra stressed the government’s responsibility to promptly restore the “Old Pension Scheme” for central and state government employees, Teachers, Defence, Ex Para Military Force, and other government personnel, ensuring their dignity and well-being in their later years.
With the threat of a potential “Bharat Bandh,” Mishra underscored that the government would bear sole responsibility for any resulting nationwide disruption if their demands go unanswered.
Addressing the press conference, Dr. M. Raghavaiah, Co-Convener of NJCA and General Secretary of NFIR, echoed these sentiments, asserting that the old pension is an inherent right for employees, one that cannot be negated by the government. He cautioned that the government must take this demand seriously, lest the envisioned “Bharat Bandh” paralyze the nation.
Leaders from various other organizations also expressed their unwavering support for the demand to restore the “Old Pension Scheme” during the press conference, reinforcing the broad-based and determined stance of government employees.
 
 
 
Old Pension Scheme Restoration Joint Forum Steering committee meeting and press conference 8,August 2023 @ J. P. Choubey Memorial Library State Entry Road, New Delhi with only demand 

*"Withdraw the new pension scheme. restore old pension"*

March to parliament at Ramleela Maidaan on 10.8.23 starts  at 10am Sharp. Duration may be 3 hours. Finally a memorandum will be submitted to the Hon'ble Prime Minister on the same day. 

*All should enter through gate no 3 and 4 only* 

Review meeting will be held on 11.8.23 and also 90 days series of agitational progrmes will be organised. Before general elections if necessary should go for strike also. 

M.Raghavaiah NFIR , president NCJCM, Shivagopal Mishra AIRF Secretary NCJCM all other CG employee union leaders also participated. 

From FNPO Sivaji Vasireddy SG FNPO & GS NAPE c, Sube Singh CS NUR3 Delhi circle and VS Singh Ex NAPEc CHQ president & President UP circle.

With fraternal greetings
Sivaji Vasireddy
SG FNPO
GS NAPE c
 



 

 

Government Employees Nationwide Rally for Old Pension Scheme Restoration at Ramlila Ground in Delhi

Click above link to view. 

Govt employee unions to hold rally in Delhi on Aug 10 for restoration of Old Pension Scheme.

Click above link to view.

Resistance and agitation against the No Guaranteed NPS Pension Scheme is increasing day by day.

Resistance and agitation against the No Guaranteed NPS Pension Scheme is increasing day by day in the country as the retirement of NPS employees have started. Pension is a old age protection especially to the Government employees, who according to the Conduct Rules are 24 hours Government Employees and cannot do any other work or Job for their additional earnings to strengthen their financial position. While the Government employees spend their wages while in service for their domestic and social commitments, pension is the only source for their old age protection.

However, successive governments in power thinks that pension is a liability and a burden on the exchequer. Moreover, the World Bank and IMF dictates on the Governments to introduce contributory pension scheme. The Vajpayee Government during the year 2003 has taken the most unpopular decision to replace the defined and guaranteed old Pension Scheme with the No Guarantee NPS. The employees and their Federations started opposing the NPS and are demanding for restoration of Old Pension scheme. This has become a popular political demand and so far 5 State Governments have withdrawn NPS and restored the OPS. In this backdrop, the Government of India have appointed a high level committee under the Chairmanship of T.V. Somanathan, Finance Secretary to propose improvement in the present NPS. The committee invited the apex body of Central Government Employees the Standing Committee of National Council – JCM for a discussion. The Standing Committee consisting of Shiva Gopal Mishra, General Secretary AIRF, M. Raghaivaih, General Secretary NFIR, C. Srikumar, General Secretary AIDEF and others attended the meeting with the Somanathan Committee on 09/06/2023 and demanded in one voice that their demand is not for any improvement in the NPS, rather they wanted NPS to be scraped and the Old Pension Scheme to be restored. Advocating their demand they submitted a detailed memorandum to the Chairman of the committee.

To find out the details of the deliberations took place in the meeting www.indianpsu.com contacted C. Srikumar, General Secretary of AIDEF. Responding to our queries C. Srikumar stated that “We the entire representatives of Central Government employees in one voice have categorically stated that we are not in agreement with the Terms of Reference given to the Committee for improvement in the NPS. There is no such demand with the Government from any corner. The only demand is to abolish the NPS and to restore the Old Pension Scheme. Why the pension of a Government employee depends on the gamble of Stock Market. Pension is the right of the Government Employee to ensure a decent and dignified retired life during the Old age. No government can take away that right. In the name of improvement in NPS the Government increased its contribution on each employee from 10% to 14% from April 2019. However, despite depositing 24% of the wages of the employees to the pension fund every month, the retiring employees are getting only a meager pension ranging from Rs. 2000 to Rs. 4000 per month. Therefore any improvement in NPS will be only an eyewash and a futile exercise In the old Pension Scheme 50% of the last basic pay is given as pension and the price rise is compensated twice in a year by payment of Dearness Relief on the basis of rise in the consumer price index. In NPS no such relief is there. Therefore why the government employees should be kept in the most hopeless NPS. We therefore demanded that the committee despite its Terms of Reference should straight away recommend for scrapping NPS and Restoration of Old Pension Scheme from 1st January, 2004. The Chairman stated that even though the points raised by the Staff Side are valid and genuine, he has to go by the Terms of reference. Anyway 20 years we are fighting for scrapping the NPS and we will continue to fight since after 5 years thousands of Central Governments Employees will start retiring with a paltry Pension from the NPS. To protect their old age security the struggle will continue and we expect the public support also for this justified demand” concluded C. Srikumar.

The memorandum dated 09/06/2023 submitted to the Finance Secretary in the meeting by the Staff Side is published here for the benefit of the viewers of www.indianpsu.com –

No.NC-JCM-2023/RPS June 09 , 2023
The Secretary,
Ministry of Finance &
Chairman of the Committee to Review the Pension System for Government Employees
North Block,
New Delhi

Sub:- Memorandum demanding Scraping of the No Guarantee NPS and Request for Restoration of the Old Pension Scheme under CCS Pension Rules 1972.

Ref:- Ministry of Finance OM No. 1/(4)/E-V/2023 dated 06/04/2023

Dear Sir,

At the outset on behalf of the Staff Side of the National Council (JCM) which represents the more than 32 Lakhs Central Government Employees convey our thanks and gratitude for inviting us for discussion on the subject of “Review of Pension System for Central Government Employees”. We take this opportunity to submit the following considered view points of the entire Central Government Employees on the demand of withdrawal of the No Guarantee National Pension System and to restore the Defined and Guaranteed Old Pension Scheme to the Central Government Employees who were recruited on or after 01/01/2004.

  1. The Staff Side of National Council (JCM) right from the day when the Government announced its decision to replace the Old Pension Scheme and to implement the New Contributory Pension Scheme popularly called as NPS, during the year 2003 opposed and rejected the same since Pension of the Government Employees cannot be left to the vagaries of the market. Pension is “deferred wages” for the protection and subsistence during the old age. Moreover the then Government introduced the Contributory Pension Scheme without any consultation with the Trade Unions / Associations of the Central Government Employees including the Staff Side of National Council(JCM).
  2. The Staff Side of National Council (JCM) immediately raised the issue in the National Council (JCM) Meetings and we demanded that the Contributory Pension Scheme implemented by the Government should be withdrawn and we put forth many arguments in support of our demand. One of our argument was that the 5th CPC while fixing the pay scales and other benefits has made its recommendations on the basis that Central Government Employees would continue to be governed by the defined and guaranteed Old Pension Scheme under CCS Pension Rules 1972. The wage structure determined by the 5th CPC was on the premise that Pension liability shall be that of the Government and therefore no Contribution for Pension is payable by them. The Staff Side also suggested that the existing defined and guaranteed Pension Scheme under CCS (Pension) Rule 1972 should continue and the contribution scheme introduced by the Government should be an additional Social and Old Age Security option for the employees and be made voluntary in character.
  3. After several round of discussions with the Staff Side finally on 14/12/2007, in the Standing Committee meeting of the National Council (JCM) Chaired by the Secretary DOPT the official side gave the following assurance:- “The Official Side stated that under the NPS, pension system of the employees who entered government service prior to 1.1.2004 is not altered in any way hence, the NPS has no implication for this category of employees. For employees who had entered w.e.f. 1.1.2004 are not likely to be worse off vis-à-vis the current pension system in force, as the replacement rate would match to the present one. Thus, NPS is a win-win situation for employees and the government”. However having not convinced with the assurance given by the Official Side, the Staff Side and the Central Government Employees organizations continued to fight against the No Guaranteed NPS and several representation were submitted to the Government in this regard.
  4. The Staff Side while submitting its memorandum and oral evidence before the 7th CPC demanded and advocated for scrapping the NPS on the grounds that it discriminates between two sets of Government Employees, uncertainty regarding the actual value of their future pension in the face of market related risk, the effective salary becomes less since the employees has to mandatorily contribute 10% of their basic pay + DA towards the pension fund, the NPS employees have no recourse to GPF for their savings etc. The 7th CPC after recording all our concerns on NPS recommended to constitute a High Level Committee to review the implementation of NPS.
  5. Accordingly the Government of India Constituted a Committee Under the Chairmanship of Secretary (Pension). The Staff Side appeared before the Committee and made presentation before the Committee with facts & figure and demanded that NPS should be withdrawn and Old Pension Scheme should be restored back. After our presentation before the committee we were given an impression that the committee would recommend for scrapping NPS and to restore OPS for those Central Government Employees who were recruited on or after 01/01/2004. The Committees Report was never spared with the Staff Side despite our repeated request. The government subsequently on the plea of implementing the recommendations of the Committee decided to increase its contribution from 10% to 14% w.e.f. 01/04/2019.
  6. It is now 20 years after the implementation of NPS. The experience of almost 20 years has fully demonstrated the truth that the National Pension System implemented by the Government of India unilaterally during the year 2003 for those Central Government Employees recruited on or after 01.01.2004 and subsequently by various State Governments, Autonomous Bodies and Authorities, etc. has deprived Social Security/old age security to the Retiring Employees and has violated the following written assurance given by the Government of India in the Standing Committee meeting of the National Council (JCM) held on 14.12.2007.
  7. However the assurance of the Government of India has been clearly violated which is evident from the following table/illustration wherein it is clearly proved that the pension under NPS is not at all matching with the Pension rate under the Old Pension Scheme.
  8. Considering all the above serious development and the bitter experience of returns from the NPS, the entire Central Government employees and State Government Employees constituted a Joint Forum of Restoration of Old Pension Scheme (JFROPS) under the banner of NJCA. A National Convention of JFROPS was held at Delhi on the 21st of January 2023 where in a declaration was adopted demanding the following:-

(1) To withdraw the National Pension System implemented to the employees who are recruited on or after 01/01/2004 and to bring them all under the coverage of old pension scheme under CCS (Pension) Rules 1972.

(2) To implement the GPF scheme to the employees who are recruited on or after 01/01/2004 by depositing the accumulated employee’s contribution along with the returns to the GPF Account of the employees.

  1. The Declaration was forwarded to the Cabinet Secretary, Government of India. A copy of the same is enclosed herewith for your kind ready reference which is also self-explanatory.

In view of all the above justification the Staff Side of the National Council (JCM) is of the firm view that any modification / improvement of the NPS in accordance with the Terms of Reference given to the Committee is not going to be of any help to the NPS employees whose right for a dignified and decent old age retired life has become an un-certainty. Therefore the only solution is to scrap the No guarantee NPS and to Restore the defined and guaranteed Old Pension Scheme under the CCS Pension Rules 1972 to those Central Government Employees who are recruited on or after 01/01/2004. We therefore appeal to the Committee to recommend accordingly.

Before we conclude we draw the kind attention of the following historical judgment of the Hon’ble Supreme Court which has upheld pension as a fundamental right of the Employees Judgment, delivered on 17.12.1982 by the 5 Member Bench of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, consisting of Hon’ble Chief Justice. V.D. Chandrachud, Hon’ble Mr. Justice V.D.Tulzaprukar, Hon’ble O. Chinnappa Reddy and Hon’ble Justice M. Baharul Islam, declared as follows in the case treated as Writ Petition Nos.5939-41 under Article 32 of the Constitution of India, known as D. S .Nakra and others Vs. Union of India has established that Pension is a fundamental right of the Government Employees.

“Para 31: from the discussion three things emerge (i) that pension is neither a bounty nor a matter of grace depending upon the sweet will of the employer and that it creates a vested right subject to 1972 Rules which are statutory in character, because they enacted in exercise of powers conferred by the proviso to Art. 309 and Clause 50 0f Art. 148 of the Constitution, (ii) that pension is not an ex-gratia payment, but it is a payment for the past service rendered, and (iii) it is a social welfare measure rendering socio-economic justice to those who in the heyday of their life ceaselessly toiled for the employer on an assurance that in their old age, they would not be left in the lurch.”

With all the above submissions we reiterate our following two demands for the favorable and sympathetic consideration of the Committee.

(1) To withdraw the National Pension System implemented to the employees who are recruited on or after 01/01/2004 and to bring them all under the coverage of Old Pension Scheme under CCS (Pension) Rules 1972.

(2) To implement the GPF scheme to the employees who are recruited on or after 01/01/2004 by depositing the accumulated employees contribution along with the returns to the GPF Account of the employees.

Hope that the Committee will dispassionately and judiciously consider the genuine concern of the Central Govt. Employees and State Government employees/Paramilitary Forces/Autonomous Institutions/Union Territories etc and recommend for scrapping the NPS and restoration of the defined and guaranteed Old Pension Scheme under the CCS(Pension) rules 1972.

It is also requested that the Committee will have further discussion with us before finalizing its recommendations/report.

Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,

(Shiva Gopal Mishra)

Secretary