Thousands Protest in Delhi Demanding Restoration of the Old Pension Scheme

The Old Pension Scheme is likely to be a major poll issue ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

New Delhi: Thousands of government employees gathered at the Ram Lila Maidan of the national capital to protest the union government’s National Pension Scheme and demand full restoration of the old pension scheme on Sunday (October 1). The protestors comprised Central and state government employees, as well as those of the public sector units of over 20 states. Termed the “Pension Shanknaad Rally”, the protest was organised by the National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS), as association steering the campaign for restoration of the OPS.

Speaking to the PTI, NMOPS leader Vijay Kumar Bandhu said, “We are spreading the message for OPS restoration in every corner of the country. The old pension has been restored in four or five states through our efforts and struggle. Our team believes that if the central government ratifies the old pension scheme, then the onus won’t be on the state government.”

“The employees who joined government service after January 1, 2004, are strongly opposing the New Pension Scheme. The employees are worried about their future after retirement because they are being forced into the NPS and deprived of the OPS,” Shiv Gopal Mishra, national convener and general secretary of All India Railway Men’s Federation, told Manorama News.

Ever since the NPS was introduced by the Union government, government employees have been protesting against it. While OPS factored in inflation and pension payouts based on pay commission indices without any contribution from the employee, the NPS is decided by the contribution of both the employee and the employer and the returns are market-based instead of a fixed sum based on the salary at the time of the retirement.

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The Union government argued that the NPS will put much lesser burden on the government exchequer than the OPS, and the probability of higher returns is high. However, a majority of government employees opposed the linking of pensions with the market and saw the move as a further depletion in employee’s social security.

The matter has become a bone of contention between the BJP-led Union government and opposition forces. Many opposition-ruled states like Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Punjab have already scrapped the NPS in favour of OPS. In fact, the Congress’s victory in Himachal Pradesh was largely credited to the grand-old party’s poll promise of implementing OPS.

On Sunday, several opposition leaders joined the protest to support government employees.

Former Haryana chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda declared his support for OPS at the site. “We fully supported the legitimate demand of the employee organisations associated with NMOPS. As soon as the Congress government is formed in Haryana, we will immediately fulfill this demand of the employees for the old pension scheme,” he said.

Among the opposition leaders who also participated in the event were Congress leaders Arvinder Singh Lovely, Sandeep Dixit and Udit Raj, Bahujan Samaj Party leader Shyam Singh Yadav, and farmers’ leader Rakesh Tikait.

Supporting the OPS, the Congress posted on X, “Old pension is the right of the employees. Congress state governments have restored the old pension. Our policy regarding this is clear – employees must get their rights.”

Aam Aadmi Party leader Sanjay Singh, too, supported the protest and said that by holding the agitation in Delhi, the employees have sent a direct message to the Modi government to correct its course.

Similarly, AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal also said on X that the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government in Punjab has already implemented the OPS.

Last month, Samajwadi Party legislators had walked out of the Uttar Pradesh assembly after the Adityanath government refused to accept their plea to entertain any demand in favour of the OPS. Similar such protests have been held by both employee unions and opposition parties across the country, and it is likely to be a major poll issue ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.