Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday targeted the Centre after the announcement of the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS). Kharge quipped that “the U in UPS means the U-turn of the Modi government.” Kharge said in a social media post, “The BJP-led government has recently started backtracking from its major decisions due to the re-emergence of the opposition after the Lok Sabha elections.”
The Congress president said that the ‘U’ in UPS stands for the U-turn of the Modi government. After June 4, the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister.
Kharge mentioned some recent decisions of the Narendra Modi government that were withdrawn after protests. These include withdrawal of the decision taken in the budget regarding long term capital gain/indexation, sending the Wakf Bill to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, withdrawal of the draft of the Broadcasting Bill and abolition of lateral entry in the bureaucracy.
Kharge said that we will continue to ensure accountability and protect 140 crore Indians from this autocratic government.
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What’s in UPS?
On Saturday, the Union Cabinet approved the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), which assures guaranteed pension to government employees. The decision was taken after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Employees opting for UPS will be eligible for a pension equal to 50 per cent of the average basic pay drawn in the last 12 months before retirement for a minimum qualifying service of 25 years.
This scheme also guarantees a minimum pension of Rs 10,000 per month on retirement after a minimum of 10 years of service.
Many non-BJP ruled states had decided to re-implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in protest against the New Pension Scheme (NPS). Employee organizations in some other states also raised this demand. Under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), retired government employees get 50 percent of their last salary as monthly pension. This amount keeps increasing with the increase in the rates of dearness allowance (DA). OPS is not financially sustainable as the burden on the government treasury keeps increasing.