Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday criticised the government for not increasing the minimum pension of Rs 1,000 under the Employees\u2019 Pension Scheme (EPS-95) in many years even after a Parliamentary panel recommending an urgent review of it.
Ramesh says that the Rs 1,000 monthly pension under the 1995 pension scheme is completely inadequate in today\u2019s times.<\/p>\n
The criticism came at a time when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government on many occasions has said that increasing the minimum EPS pension amount can affect the sustainability of the scheme.<\/p>\n
Ramesh, who held different ministries during the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, came down heavily on the current government, saying during the Modi government\u2019s nearly 12-year tenure, several social security schemes have gradually weakened, or have been deliberately made weakened.<\/p>\n
Ramesh said, \u201cThe Parliamentary Standing Committee has also clearly stated in its report that the Rs 1,000 monthly pension under the 1995 pension scheme is completely inadequate in today\u2019s times. The committee has suggested that the minimum pension should be increased to a level that ensures a dignified standard of living.<\/p>\n
A Parliamentary panel on Tuesday recommended an urgent, comprehensive review of the Rs 1,000 minimum monthly EPS pension to raise it to a more realistic and dignified level.<\/p>\n
\u2018Minimum EPS pension of Rs 1,000 is almost a joke\u2019
Ramesh said even a basic facility like EPS pension has remained largely unchanged for a long time, despite rising inflation.<\/p>\n
The former minister said that it has had a direct impact on the elderly and economically weaker pensioners, who are considered among the most vulnerable sections of society. <\/p>\n
\u201cIn the current scenario, where inflation is at its peak due to poor government policies, and the cost of healthcare and daily necessities has risen sharply, a minimum EPF pension of Rs 1,000 is almost like a joke.<\/p>\n
This issue concerns the social security and dignified life of millions of retired workers, says Ramesh.<\/p>\n
Ramesh hopes govt to raise minimum EPS pension <\/p>\n
Ramesh hoped that after the report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development\u2014chaired by a BJP Lok Sabha MP\u2014the government will take note and take concrete steps in this regard.<\/p>\n
What is the minimum EPS pension?
The minimum pension that an EPS account holder can get is Rs 1,000, while the maximum is R 7,500. The amount is calculated on the basis of an EPS account holder\u2019s contributions to their EPS account and the total period involving it. The contribution can be 8.33% of the basic salary and dearness allowance (DA) or Rs 1,250 a month, whichever is higher.What is the government\u2019s stand on increasing the minimum EPS pension amount?
The government on many occasions has stated that the even the current minimum EPS pension is possible only after government contributes 1.16% of the wage to the scheme.<\/p>\n
In a reply to an unstarred question in Lok Sabha on Monday, Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya said that the government currently provides a minimum EPS pension of Rs 1,000 per month to eligible pensioners and any decision regarding revision must consider the sustainability of the pension fund.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government currently supports pensioners under the EPS by providing budgetary support to ensure a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month. This support is in addition to the government\u2019s annual 1.16% wage contribution to the scheme,\u201d says Mandaviya.<\/p>\n
The government stated that it aims to ensure robust social security coverage through the EPF Scheme, EPS-95 and the Employees\u2019 Deposit Linked Insurance (EDLI) scheme while maintaining the long-term sustainability of the funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh on Wednesday criticised the government for not increasing the minimum pension…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":339116,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[181438,16264,181435,181434,22839,181437,181436,138,246,111,139,69,244,245],"class_list":["post-339115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-personal-finance","tag-8th-cpc-fitment-factor","tag-8th-pay-commission","tag-8th-pay-commission-arrear-calculator","tag-8th-pay-commission-arrears","tag-8th-pay-commission-fitment-factor","tag-8th-pay-commission-pay-hike-calculator","tag-8th-pay-commission-salary-calculator","tag-business","tag-finance","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-personal-finance","tag-personalfinance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=339115"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339115\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/339116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}