Congress on Sunday took a dig at the Centre over the announcement of the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS). Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge said that the ‘U’ in UPS means ‘U-turn’ of the Modi government. This sarcasm of the main opposition party has come at a time when just a day earlier the Union Cabinet took a decision in this regard. Under the National Pension System (NPS), a guarantee of pension equal to 50 percent of the salary was approved for those joining the service after January 1, 2004.
The UPS decision has been taken ahead of the assembly elections in Haryana and Jammu and Kashmir. Fulfilling the long-pending demands of government employees, the UPS was approved in a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which assures guaranteed pension. Taking a dig at the government, Mallikarjun Kharge said, “The ‘U’ in UPS stands for ‘U-turn’ of the Modi government. After June 4, the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister.”
’23 lakh central employees will benefit’
Mallikarjun Kharge said, ‘Movement taken in Budget regarding long term capital gains/indexation withdrawn. Waqf Bill referred to Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC), Broadcasting Bill and Lateral Entry withdrawn.’ The Congress chief said in his post on social media platform X, ‘We will continue to ensure accountability. Will save 140 crore Indians from this autocratic government!’ He said that 23 lakh central government employees will benefit from this alternative scheme. If state governments join this scheme, this number can increase to 90 lakh.
What will the employees get under UPS
Let us tell you that under UPS, government employees will now be entitled to get 50 percent of the average basic salary received in the last 12 months before retirement as pension. The minimum service period to get 50 percent of the salary as pension should be 25 years. Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that pension will be given proportionately for a minimum service period of up to 10 years. He said that the new pension scheme also guarantees a minimum pension of Rs 10,000 per month on retirement after a minimum of 10 years of service. This alternative scheme will benefit 23 lakh central government employees. He said that if the state governments want to join this scheme, the number of employees will increase to 90 lakh.
