NPS in its current form is riddled with problems and employees have been demanding restoration of the Old Pension System.
Chief Minister, Rajasthan: The Congress party and its government in Rajasthan recognizes its duty to provide socio-economic security to the people. A government employee serves for 30-35 years and spends his post-retirement life on the basis of pension. It is, therefore, the duty of any elected government to ensure that the employees live their life with a sense of security so that they can render their invaluable contribution to the cause of good governance.
With a view to strengthening the socio-economic base of the Government employees, the Central Civil Services (Pension) Act, 1972 was implemented which had provision for an inbuilt pension/family pension, gratuity and commuted amount. Unfortunately, the old pension system was done away with by the Vajpayee government in December 2003 and replaced it with a New Pension System (NPS) w.e.f. 01.04.2004. The NPS in its current form is riddled with a number of problems and the employees throughout the country have been demanding for the restoration of the Old Pension System (OPS) as the NPS fails to take care of their current as well as post-retirement needs. National Human Rights Commission, CAG Report No. 13 of 2020 and the Second National Judicial Pay Commission have also raised questions about the efficacy of the NPS in providing guaranteed socio-economic security to the employees. Under the NPS, the hard-earned retirement fund of employees are subjected to the vagaries of the share market which fluctuates at the drop of a hat. In the event of major international crises like the present Ukraine crisis, the share market nosedives thereby increasing the heartbeats of employees and perennially putting their social security at risk. An employee cannot work with his full potential and contribute to good governance if his socio-economic security is threatened. Since the pension fund is invested in a market which is replete with risks and provides no guarantee of return even after 17 years of implementation of NPS, it engenders old age insecurity among the employees.