Page 11 - Pensions

Pension will be higher under EPS but will come at a cost: Should you opt?

Be prepared for claw back from EPF to EPS if you go for joint option scheme

SC to hear plea by ex-servicemen for payment of OROP arrears in one go

A group of ex-servicemen moved the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre that arrears of the One Rank-One Pension scheme be paid to all eligible pensioners in one installment instead of four installments. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala is scheduled to take up the application filed by Indian Ex-Servicemen Movement (IESM) through advocate Balaji Srinivasan for hearing on February 27. The military veterans association has also sought the setting aside of the Centre's communication dated January 20, 2023 issued by the Ministry of Defence. The communication had said that "arrears on account of revision of pension from July 1, 2019 till date of its implementation shall be paid by the Pension Disbursing Agencies in four yearly installments. However, all the family pensioners including those in receipt of special/liberalized family pension and all gallantry award winners shall be paid arrears in one installment". The ex-servicem

EPFO sets procedure to apply for higher pension in Employees Pension Scheme

Retirement fund body EPFO on Monday came out with a procedure to enable subscribers and their employers to jointly apply for higher pension under Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS). Earlier in November 2022, the Supreme Court had upheld Employees Pension (Amendment) Scheme 2014. The EPS amendment of August 22, 2014 had raised the pensionable salary cap to Rs 15,000 a month from Rs 6,500 a month, and allowed members along with their employers to contribute 8.33 per cent of their actual salaries (if it exceeded the cap) towards the EPS. In an office order, the Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) provided for dealing with the 'Joint Option Form' by field offices of the body. EPFO stated that "a facility will be provided for which URL (unique resource location) will be informed shortly. Once received, the regional PF commissioner shall put adequate notice on the notice board and banners for wider public information". It provided that each application will be registered, digitall

Coal miners' pension unrevised due to shortfall in accrual of pension fund

No revision in 25 yrs due to resistance from central trade union representatives, says coal minister

Old vs New: No early retirement for debate on pension as elections loom

The economics and politics behind the old versus new pension scheme as elections loom

Beware! Govts do default on pension liabilities

The faith displayed by employees in a future government's ability to pay pension is perplexing when stories abound of state governments having difficulty in paying salaries

Maharashtra govt positive about OPS for teachers, govt employees: CM Shinde

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Saturday said the state government is positive about the Old Pension Scheme for teachers and government employees. He said the state education department is studying the OPS. Addressing a campaign rally for upcoming Legislative Council polls, Shinde also said the state government will respond to allegations raised by the Opposition regarding investment proposals inked at the recently-held Davos summit by its work. "The government is positive about Old Pension Scheme for teachers and government employees, non-aided schools, and also for 25 per cent reservation in English medium schools. The education department is studying the OPS," he added. Speaking about the Davos summit, he said some foreign companies, instead of making a direct investment, prefer to go in for joint ventures. "Hence many industrialists at the Davos conference are from India. But it will be foreign investment," he added. The chief minister questioned the status of MoU

Strikes, protests test French govt's plan to raise retirement age to 64

In a country with an aging population and growing life expectancy where everyone receives a state pension, Macron's government says the reform is the only way to keep the system solvent

Rahul Gandhi lauds Himachal govt's decision to restore Old Pension Scheme

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday hailed the Himachal Pradesh government's decision to restore the Old Pension Scheme in its first cabinet meeting, saying the "Congress means trust". The Himachal Pradesh government on Friday approved the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme in its first cabinet meeting, calling it a "Lohri gift" to 1.36 lakh employees who currently are under the New Pension Scheme. The Congress had promised to take a decision to restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) at the first meeting of the government and it stood by the promise. Taking to Twitter, Gandhi said the Congress had brought back the OPS in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and now Himachal Pradesh. A committee was also constituted (in Himachal) to implement 'Har Ghar Lakshmi' - a scheme to provide Rs 1500 per month to women in 30 days. Congress means trust," Gandhi said in a tweet in Hindi.

Old Pension Scheme applicable for all personnel of CAPF: Delhi High Court

The Supreme Court and High Courts in various decisions have appreciated the role of armed forces in safeguarding our country

Old Pension Scheme applicable to all CAPF personnel: Delhi High Court

The court further directed the Centre to issue necessary orders within eight weeks for the same

Over 400,000 Delhi senior citizens' pension delayed; committee blame Centre

The Petitions Committee of the Delhi Legislative Assembly has taken cognizance of complaints of pensions of as many as 4,26,058 senior citizens getting withheld in Delhi

Ex-servicemen body praises PM Modi for pension revision under OROP

An organisation of ex-servicemen on Wednesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the government's approval of the revision of pension of armed forces personnel under the 'One Rank One Pension' scheme with retrospective effect from July 1, 2019. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the government made financial provisions for the "equalisation" as per its communication in 2015, and this is very laudable, the Akhil Bhartiya Poorva Sainik Seva Parishad said in a statement. "We ex-service personnel are overwhelmed by the prime minister's affection for and trust in us," it added. The decision taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Modi last week will result in an additional annual expenditure of Rs 8,450 crore, according to the defence ministry. It will benefit more than 25 lakh pensioners.

Unfunded pension schemes are attack on future generations: EAC-PM member

Concerned over revival of Old Pension Scheme by certain Opposition-ruled states, Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) member Sanjeev Sanyal on Monday said unfunded pension schemes are ultimately attacks on future generations. Sanyal further said given the current stress in the global economy and the repeated downgrades done to the world GDP growth numbers by international agencies, it is quite obvious that 2023 will also be a difficult period. "It should be very clear that unfunded pension schemes are ultimately attacks on future generations. Therefore, one should be very, very careful to reverse pension reforms that have been done with great difficulty over the last couple of decades," he told PTI in an interview. Sanyal was responding to a question on some Opposition-ruled states' decision to switch to Old Pension Scheme (OPS). The OPS, under which the entire pension amount was given by the government, was discontinued by the NDA government in 2003 from April

Haryana allocates Rs 68.42 cr for Rs 2,500/month pension to cancer patients

The Haryana government has made a separate annual budgetary provision of Rs 68.42 crore to provide patients suffering from Stage-3 and Stage-4 cancer in the state a monthly pension of Rs 2,500. The decision follows an earlier announcement by Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar to grant monthly pensions to cancer patients. "Earlier, in terms of giving monthly pension to cancer patients, Tripura was the only state in the country that has been giving monthly financial assistance of Rs 1,000 to Stage-3 cancer patients," an official statement here said on Friday. The Haryana government has decided that cancer patients will continue to get an additional monthly pension of Rs 2,500 even if they are taking advantage of other social security pension or old age pension schemes, it said. Khattar, while meeting the families of cancer patients in May, had assured that the state government would extend all possible help to them. He had informed that this assistance would be given to those patien

OPS adoption may benefit current generation at cost of future generations

Pension payments as a percentage of revenue receipts of states increased from 2 per cent in 1980-81 to 11 per cent in 1999-2000

370,000 pensioners filed life certificate using face authentication tech

Over 3.7 lakh central government pensioners submitted life certificates using face authentication technology till December 8, 2022, Union Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh said on Thursday. The government has launched face authentication technology in November 2021 for the submission of life certificates by central government pensioners. All central government pensioners are required to submit a life certificate every year for uninterrupted disbursement of their pension. "Till December 8, 2022, as many as 3,71,364 central government pensioners have submitted life certificates using face authentication technology since its launch," he said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha. Pensioners can use any of the prescribed modes, including face authentication technology, to submit life certificates, the minister said, when asked, "whether the pensioner will be denied benefits of a pension if he refuses to submit a life certificate through Jeevan Pramaan App by using the face

No proposal with government to restore old pension scheme, says minister

There is no proposal under the Central government's consideration to restore the old pension scheme, the Parliament was told on Monday

Sikkim CM constitutes panel to examine viability of old pension scheme

Sikkim Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang has constituted a committee to examine the viability of restoration of the old pension scheme for the state government employees, an official statement said. The panel will be headed by Personnel Department's Secretary Rinzing Chewang Bhutia. The chief minister took the decision to form the committee, following a meeting with a delegation of the state government employees on Saturday, it said. Tamang has directed the panel to submit its report to the state government within three months, said the statement issued on Saturday. After extensive discussion with the senior officials on the issue, the CM decided to constitute the committee to "examine all the aspects of the issue and to find a solution", it said. Finance Department's Controller of Accounts cum Secretary MCP Pradhan and Pension Division's Additional Director Punita Alley are also part of the panel. The committee can opt for additional members as per requirement, the statement adde

Will implement Old Pension Scheme in first cabinet meeting: Himachal CM

Congress leader Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu who took oath as the Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh on Sunday said that his government will implement OPS (Old Pension Scheme) in the first cabinet meeting.