Political slugfest over UPS: Here’s why Opposition is objecting Modi Govt’s latest pension scheme. 5 key points

Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government has approved the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) for government employees. The latest scheme assures pension of 50 per cent of the basic salary for those who joined the service after January 1, 2004.

Modi government says it is, by this scheme, fulfilled a long-pending demand of government employees. Employees opting for the UPS would be eligible for an assured pension after service of 25 years, it said.

The decision triggered yet another political slugfest with the Opposition led by the Congress party and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party exchanging barbs since August 24, when the Union cabinet approved the decision

But why is the opposition objecting to this scheme? Here are some points to explain the opposition’s issues with the new scheme:

Political Concerns

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge led the party’s charge against the Modi government, saying that the ‘U’ in the newly-announced Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) stands for the Modi government’s ‘U-turns.’ Kharge shared a news clip titled ‘Assured pensions return as govt, backtracks on NPS’ to send across his point.

Kharge linked the ‘U-turn’ with the June 4 Lok Sabha Elections 2024 results which saw the BJP being reduced to 240 seats, falling short of a simple majority of 272 seats and thus having to rely on National Democratic Alliance (NDA) alliance to form the government.

Kharge listed the recent rollback in the budget regarding indexation, sending Waqf Bill to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, the rollback of the Broadcast Bill and the rollback of ‘Lateral Entry’ hiring in bureaucracy by the Modi government.

Clearly, Kharge’s reservations are political. The annoucement comes ahead of assembly elections in key states including Maharashtra, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir and Delhi.

UPS is expected to benefit 23 lakh government employees across India immediately. However, this number could potentially increase to 90 lakh if state governments choose to adopt the scheme, extending its benefits to a broader range of government employees across India, according to Modi government.

With the UPS the government is reportedly aiming to counter Old Pension Scheme plank of the Congress party that perhaps helped the grand old party win Himachal Pradesh Assembly election. However, Congress failed to win Rajasthan where it also promised the implementation of the OPS.

At least five Opposition-ruled States had moved their employees out of the NPS to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) with guaranteed pension at 50 per cent of salary, according to a report in the Hindu.

OPS vs UPS

OPS and UPS have different ways of calculating pension amounts. Under the OPS , the assured pension was fixed at 50 per cent of the last base salary plus dearness allowance (DA). Compared to the new scheme of UPS, the assured pension in the UPS will be the average basic salary plus the DA drawn in the previous year before superannuation.

Under the UPS scheme, the minimum pension offered per month is ₹10,000 at the time of retirement after a 10-year minimum service. The present minimum amount is ₹9,000 after the ten-year minimum service period.

UPS, which is almost akin to the OPS assuring government employees of 50 per cent of their last-drawn pay as a lifelong monthly benefit, according to reports.

Paramilitary Forces Excluded: AAP

The Congress’ INDIA bloc partner Aam Aadmi Party said the UPS is a ‘massive fraud on employees in the country as it would not cover the paramilitary forces because “their service itself is not for 25 years”, the qualifying criteria to avail of the full benefit under the UPS.

“Unified Pension Scheme is worse than the New Pension Scheme. This is a big fraud on the employees in the country. Paramilitary forces of the country have been excluded from this pension scheme. They will not come under this purview their services itself is not for 25 years,” AAP said in a post on X.

‘Attack on Dalits, Tribals’

The Congress’ media and publicity department head Pawan Khera alleged that the UPS appears to be an attack on Dalits, tribals and backward classes.

“In many states, the upper age limit for government jobs for reserved category is 40 years. In UPSC, this limit is 37 years. Under the unified pension scheme, it is mandatory to render 25 years of service to get a full pension,” Khera said. In such a situation, how will Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and Other Backward Classes employees avail this facility, he asked.

“Now the government should tell whether it wants to end the upper age limit facility available to the underprivileged or wants to deprive them of full pension?” Khera said on X.

BJP’s Defence

The BJP, however, hailed PM Modi for bringing the UPS. BJP leader and former Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the Modi government does not take ad-hoc decisions. He told the Congress President Kharge to tell the nation why his party has taken a “U-turn” on its poll promise of implementing the old pension scheme in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana after coming to power in these states.

“Will this Congress only make announcements or implement them as well? Congress, in general, and Rahul Gandhi, in particular, please tell the nation that you implemented the old pension scheme as promised in Himachal Pradesh,” he said.