NPS vs OPS: Recently, the Central Government has increased the dearness allowance of central employees by 4 percent. Now dearness allowance of central employees has increased from 42 percent to 46 percent. After this increase, now the government is going to make important changes in the pension scheme of the employees.
National Pension Scheme: For a long time, government employees have been demanding the Central Government to implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Now a big update has come regarding this. The central government may make changes in the National Pension Scheme (NPS) by the end of this year. After this amendment, it can be ensured that after retirement, employees can get 40 to 45 percent of their salary in the form of pension in their last days. A recommendation has been made by a high level panel in this regard.
Government will take decision soon
According to media reports, two people associated with this whole matter said that a new plan is being considered by the government. There has been no official statement from the government on this. But in view of the Lok Sabha elections, a decision on this can be taken soon by the Central Government. At present the issue of old pension is completely dominant. Recently, the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) has been implemented by many non-BJP ruled state governments.
Old pension scheme reinstated in these states
Under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), there is a provision to give 50 percent of the last salary to the employees as pension. The old pension scheme has been restored in Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Expressing their views on this, different economists had said that this can lead the state governments towards bankruptcy. SBI Chief Economic Advisor Soumya Kant Ghosh had said that the old pension scheme is financially unsustainable. This may increase the debt burden on the states.
NPS was launched in 2004.
Let us tell you that the currently implemented market linked pension plan was launched in the year 2004. In this, employees are required to contribute 10% of the basic salary and the government is required to contribute 14%. Whereas the employee does not make any contribution in the old pension (OPS). Sources claim that now the Central Government can give higher returns to the retiring employees by making some changes in the calculations. After this, changes in the contribution of the employee and the employer are also possible.
Under NPS, an employee can withdraw 60 percent of the total corpus at the time of retirement, which is tax free. After the news of changes in NPS, it is expected that the government is not in favor of restoring the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) at any cost. Recently, while talking to Reuters, an official of the Finance Ministry had refused to implement the old pension scheme.
