Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said the money deposited with the Centre under the National Pension Scheme (NPS) belongs to the individual contributors and as per the law, it cannot be returned to the state governments.
When asked about the possibility of restoring the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) across the country, she said, “You’re asking this on a land where former chief minister Virbhadra Singh had introduced the NPS.”
Sitharaman, while addressing a press conference in Shimla, said, “As per the World Trade Organisation, the import duty on apples cannot exceed 50%. Despite this, the Modi government made it 70%.”
She said, “One can see great examples of the double-engine government in Himachal Pradesh. All the schemes that PM Modi has brought to empower poor were implemented in HP too. Centre’s Ayushman Bharat and state’s HimCare are among those.”
She also credited Jai Ram government for the development projects underway in the state.