The government has given the option to NPS employees to join UPS till June 30. Till now, about 30 lakh NPS employees of the central government are not willing to join UPS. Out of the said number, even 30 thousand employees have not given the option to join UPS till now. Let's know the whole matter in detail...

Employee organizations are preparing to mobilize again for the restoration of OPS in the central government. The government has given the option to NPS employees to join UPS till June 30. The Integrated Pension Scheme (UPS) calculator has been launched on May 20 under the National Pension System (NPS). Its purpose is to provide the central government employees with the facility by which they can compare the pension benefits available under both NPS and the new scheme 'UPS'. On the other hand, about 30 lakh NPS employees of the central government are not yet willing to join UPS. Out of the said number, even 30 thousand employees have not yet given the option of joining UPS. In the current circumstances, the big employee organizations of the central government and the states are in the mood to agitate for the restoration of the old pension. 

Dr. Manjit Singh Patel, President of 'National Mission for Old Pension Scheme India' says that the current provisions of UPS are not acceptable to the employees. Almost two months have passed, but the number of people choosing the Unified Pension Scheme has not even reached two percent. This means that UPS has failed. The reason is clear that UPS is completely uncertain, because it is not possible for anyone to decide 20-25 years in advance what would be better between NPS and UPS at the time of retirement. In such a long period, everything is uncertain - pay commission, dearness allowance and other allowances. Only those who are close to retirement or have retired can decide what would be right.

According to Dr. Patel, the biggest thing is that even if someone takes a decision by doing rough calculations, then how many years will he live after retirement, this is the most important factor in Unified Pension Scheme. According to general estimates, if an employee retires after 30 to 35 years of service and he also withdraws his contribution from UPS, then he will get only 30 percent pension instead of 50 percent of the last average salary. If that employee dies early, then his wife will get only 18 percent pension. After her death, everything will stop. If we look at it this way, we find that to get a pension equal to NPS, the retired person will have to live at least for 16 years. 

Now no one can guarantee that a person will necessarily live for the said period. If the government wants to see UPS alive, then it will have to open the way for choosing this option just before retirement instead of during the service period. At that time, the person retiring is able to take a decision due to reasons like his family's situation and his health etc. Patel has explained this through an example. For example, if a person retires in 2043 after working for 34 years from 2008, then the total corpus in NPS will be around 3.50 crores and the last basic salary will be 370000. There will be about 28 percent DA. He will get 2.10 crore rupees in NPS. He will get a pension of seventy thousand rupees per month. In his absence, his wife will also get a pension of only 70000 rupees. In the absence of both, the nominee can get 1.40 crore rupees. 

If the same person retires from UPS, then the total corpus will be 2.91 crores. In this, the employee's contribution is 1.45 crores. If he withdraws his share i.e. 1.15 crores in addition to the lump sum amount (32 lakhs), then he will get the full employee contribution i.e. 1.15+0.32 = 1.47 crores, but the pension will be 110000 plus DA. This can be beneficial only if the employee lives a long life. If that person's life ends soon, then his wife will get only 66600 + DA. There will be no fund for the nominee. If the wife also dies soon, then everything will stop. On the other hand, the nominee fund of NPS which was 1.40 crores would still be saved.

C. Srikumar, member of the National Council of Staff Side (JCM) and general secretary of All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), said, the inclination of the central government employees towards UPS is very low. Employees do not want to join UPS. Till now, even two percent of NPS employees are not joining UPS. Its last date is 30 June. The central government has now also released a calculator. The central government employees do not want to get into the hassle of NPS and UPS. They have only one demand, restoration of old pension. SB Yadav, general secretary of Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, says, whether UPS is better or not, it can be guessed from the fact that till now even ten percent of the employees have not been able to give the option of joining UPS. The demand for restoration of old pension has also been raised in the meeting of the National Council of Staff Side (JCM) with the central government. 

PC:AmarUjala