Letters: Revamp the NPS

This refers to the report "PFRDA targets 10 mn NPS subscribers for FY 15"( June 17). Introduced effective January 1, 2004, through an earlier Budget announcement and executive order, the NPS (originally the New Pension Scheme and now New Pension System) is now in its teens. Beyond forcibly denying a well-established pension scheme for a section of central government employees who joined service after December 31, 2013, and state government employees who joined after adoption of the NPS, the scheme has not enthused many outside the clientele for whom it was made compulsory.

One option to salvage the credibility of NPS would be to restore the defined-benefit-based pension scheme for all employees who would have been eligible for such pension but for the introduction of NPS. Using the National Pension System to cover wage-earners and self-employed people who are not covered by existing social security schemes, would ensure the burden of providing old-age care for such people does not fall entirely on the government.

M G Warrier Mumbai

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