E-Paper
In city of govt employees, will opposition to NPS impact the voting choices
Lucknow faces 'slight undercurrent' as government employees demand revival of Old Pension Scheme (OPS) over New Pension Scheme (NPS).
The administrative centre of India’s most populous state, Lucknow, with the highest number of government employees among all 80 Lok Sabha constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, is experiencing a ‘slight undercurrent’ as government employees demand the revival of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Lucknow district has approximately 50,000 state and central government employees, most of whom are voters across two Lok Sabha seats: Lucknow and Mohanlalganj.
The OPS was replaced by the New Pension Scheme (NPS) in 2004, during the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government. The OPS was discontinued with the cessation taking effect from April 1, 2004.
While over 14 lakh employees work for both state and central government across Uttar Pradesh.
“The old OPS was abolished in Uttar Pradesh on April 1, 2005. It has been 19 years since the NPS was implemented, and now it is rearing its ugly head as some people are even getting ₹500, ₹1200, and ₹1800 as their pension,” said LU Associated College Teachers Association (LUACTA) chief Manoj Pandey.
Since the introduction of NPS in 2004, demands for the revival of the OPS have been made intermittently, gaining momentum before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and subsequent assembly elections, including the 2022 UP Vidhan Sabha polls. In the run-up to the 2022 assembly polls, Uttar Pradesh government employees and teachers of the secondary and state higher education departments organised significant protests.
Despite political posturing, employees have continued their demand. Sometimes the chorus of protest was intense, and at other times, it was subdued.
This time, the revival of the OPS has become a promise of key opposition parties like the Samajwadi Party. Now, in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, the focus is back on the OPS. Although there is no visible protest from the employees, there seems to be a slight undercurrent.
The question is, can the issue of OPS impact voting choices in the city of government employees, or are the issues different for voters in Lucknow?
In this ongoing election, neither the opposition nor ruling party leaders are talking about the issue, which affects more than 50 lakh family members of government staff. On April 1, a section of UP government staff, including teachers and a few other professionals, staged a symbolic protest, but it did not make much of an impression.
Shailendra Dubey, a veteran power trade union leader from Uttar Pradesh, mentioned that SP chief Akhilesh Yadav talked about the revival of OPS, but barring him not many other leaders talked about it.
“We really fail to understand why leaders across all party lines are tight-lipped over this burning issue. I can understand that ruling political party leaders are tight-lipped, but I cannot understand why the entire opposition is not making it an issue during their campaign. The entire political system is indifferent to our demand because it is not an issue for them,” said JN Tiwari, president, State Employees Joint Council, Uttar Pradesh.
Anand Verma, president of Lucknow Nagar Nigam Karamchari Sangh, said the OPS is a must for all government staff.
“We organised a number of agitations and protests to get the attention of the state government and opposition, but it slowly fizzled out. Government staff are unhappy to a large extent and will think twice before deciding whom to vote for,” he said.
“The cadre system needs to be reviewed; there has been no promotion of sanitation workers, and three promotions should be given mandatorily during the entire service period. Although authorities brought 88 new villages into Lucknow municipal limits, they have not increased the number of staff. Minimum honorarium should be given to outsourced workers, and contractual staff should be regularised,” he added.
Onkar Tiwari, former secretary of Sachivalaya Sangh, emphasised, “As this is a Lok Sabha polls, PM Modi should bring all MPs and MLAs into the NPS net. If they are not doing it for public representatives, then the OPS should be given to all government staff.”
Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, government staff in many parts of the state reported to work wearing black badges to oppose the NPS and demanded that people ‘vote’ in favor of the OPS.
Over 2,000 teaching and non-teaching staff members of colleges affiliated with the University of Lucknow also opposed the new pension scheme at their respective institutions in Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Sitapur, Lakhimpur, and Hardoi under the banners of LUACTA and All Teachers Employees Welfare Association (ATEWA).
