Congress Demands Restoration Of Old Pension Scheme

Congress MP & former TPCC President N Uttam Kumar Reddy today reiterated the demand for the abolition of the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for Central and State government employees.

He was addressing a meeting of the employees' union of the Railway Mail Service of the P&T department at the Sundarayya Vignana Bhavan in Hyderabad.

Reddy strongly condemned the BJP government at the Centre and the TRS government in the State for not abolishing the controversial CPS despite serious objection from the employees.

"It is unfortunate that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao are both turning a deaf ear to the demand of the Central and State government employees for the restoration of the old pension scheme. From Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, it is quite clear that the Congress supports the demand for restoration of the old scheme. The restoration of the OPS was approved in the very first meeting of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukvinder Singh Sukhu's cabinet. Restoration of OPS in Telangana too was promised by the Congress in the 2018 election manifesto. Although we lost the election, we are still fighting with the present BRS government on the issue," he said, and added that the Congress, if voted to power in the 2023 elections in Telangana, would restore the OPS.

Reddy strongly condemned the "adamant attitude" of the Narendra Modi-led BJP government in continuing the controversial CPS. He said that the National Joint Council of Action (NJCA) comprising over 50 Central and State employee unions had been protesting demanding the restoration of the OPS. The employees had categorically described the present national pension scheme as harmful to retired personnel. However, the Modi government was not willing to hold any talks with the agitating employees' unions, Reddy said. He said that the "anti-employee attitude" of the Modi government was highly condemnable as it would affect the productivity of government employees.

"Anyway, the Congress is all set to win the next elections both in Telangana and at the Centre, and the new government will restore the Old Pension Scheme immediately after coming to power," he said.

The Congress MP also condemned the Modi government for "privatising every sector" in the country. "The BJP government has privatised airports, sea ports, railways, coal mines, the oil sector, banks and also the insurance sector. It is introducing reforms aimed at benefiting only a few industrialists. More than 40 labour acts have been repealed to deprive the workers of their legitimate rights," he alleged.

Reddy said that it was due to the "wrong economic policies" of the Modi government that the country's wealth had gone into the hands of only a few corporates. Citing Oxfam India's latest report "Survival of the Richest: The India Story", he said that nearly 40% of the wealth created in India between 2012 and 2021 had gone to just 1% of the population, and that only 3% of the wealth had gone to the bottom 50%. The combined wealth of India's 100 richest was crore Rs 54.12 lakh crore, which was almost 150% of India's annual budget, he said.

He said that the Congress would continue to oppose the privatisation of the public sector by the Modi government and launch a massive agitation. He also promised the union government employees of all the necessary support to their agitation demanding the restoration of the OPS.