Saturday, 02 July 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
After Rajasthan & Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand also announces restoration of OPS
The president of the Uttarakhand chapter of National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS) Jeetmani Painuli has said that after Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, the Jharkhand government has also announced that it would restore the benefit of the OPS for its employees. This announcement was made by the Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in Ranchi on Sunday. While addressing ‘Jai Ghosh Pension Maha Sammelan’ Soren said that the OPS would be restored in the state from August 15 this year. Painuli who led the delegation of Uttarakhand in this conclave said that national president of the NMOPS Vijay Kumar Bandhu, Jharkhand CM Soren and other leaders were present in the Mahasammelan that was attended by more than 40,000 employees from different parts of the country. Painuli said that the movement for OPS is gathering momentum in the country and it is expected that Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab and Bihar too would restore OPS soon.
He said that all the employees should get united for the benefit of OPS and for this a Chintan Shivir would be organised on September 9 in Dehradun on the occasion of the birth anniversary of Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant. In this programme the representatives of all 10 employee federations and more than 50 associations who have extended their support to NMOPS Uttarakhand would take part.
The general secretary of Uttarakhand NMOPS Mukesh Raturi said that more than 80,000 employees, teachers and officers are looking with hope towards the government for restoration of OPS.
The New Pension Scheme (NPS) was started in the year 2004 by the Manmohan Singh government to reduce the ever increasing burden of pension on state exchequer. Under it a portion of the salary of the employees is deducted every month and the government makes an equal contribution. This is invested in different debt and equity instruments to build up a corpus for the employee and on his retirement he or she receives the pension from the interest incurred from the corpus. The employees are finding the NPS non lucrative and are demanding the restoration of OPS in which the retiring employee gets 50 per cent of his last drawn salary as pension. In the OPS the employees also get the benefit of Dearness Allowance (DA), family pension and commutation.
