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Congress hopes old pension plan may bolster prospects in Rajasthan elections
The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan is hopeful that the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme will help the party ‘s cause in the coming state elections, just as it did in Himachal Pradesh late last year, Congress leaders said.
The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan is hopeful that the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme will help the party ‘s cause in the coming state elections, just as it did in Himachal Pradesh late last year, Congress leaders said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which is committed to the New Pension Scheme has said that its manifesto will detail an even better scheme (than the OPS).
In February 2022, Rajasthan replaced New Pension Scheme with Old Pension Scheme for those employees who joined government service after 2004, in the process becoming the first state to do so. After Rajasthan, similar decisions were announced by the Congress government of Chhattisgarh, the AAP government of Punjab and the JMM government of Jharkhand.
The OPS offers guaranteed, inflation- and pay commission-indexed pension payments to retired government employees and their spouses (after the employees’ death) without any contribution from the employees. The New Pension Scheme (NPS) – it was first implemented by the Centre in 2004 and most states shifted to it – is based on employee contributions – to be sure, the government also makes a contribution – and its returns are market-based.
Representatives of employee associations are not sure if the restoration of OPS will help the Gehlot government but admit that it has ensured that there is no anger against the incumbent.
Tej Singh Rathore , president of Rajasthan Rajya Karamchari Sangh said: “This time there is no anger against the government but whether this convert into vote or not cannot be predicted.”
Ayudan Singh, president of Akhil Rajasthan Rajya Karamchari Sanyukt Mahasangh, said the impact of this scheme will be on employees who joined after 2004 and that there are around 3.5 lakh such. “Because of this scheme, there is no or very less anger against the incumbent government.”
A reprsentative of an employee association who asked not to be named said employees are aware that the scheme may be dropped if the government changes.
“The BJP has not spoken word on OPS and there is no assurance from them on assured pension,” he added.
Former Minister and BJP MLA Vasudev Devnani said restoring OPS would have a minimum impact electorally; issues such as corruption and bad law and order has ensured an anti-incumbency against the Congress government. “It (OPS) cannot be a game changer. We will have many schemes for welfare of the employees in the Sankalp Patr (manifesto).”
Former Himachal Pradesh chief minister Jai Ram Thakur of the BJP admitted that the promise of OPS was a major factor behind the party losing power in the hill state in 2022.
Voting for 200 member Rajasthan assembly will take place on November 3 and votes will be counted on December 3 along with that of Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Mizoram.
