Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government has appointed a new committee comprising the Finance and Law ministers and the Chief Secretary, to study in detail the recommendations of the re-examination committee that reviewed the contributory pension scheme introduced in 2013 for government employees.
The Government is yet to make public the contents of the report submitted by the re-examination committee in April 2021. A suit in this regard is pending before the Supreme Court.
Nearly one-and-a-half lakh employees are members of the Contributory pension scheme, which was implemented on April 1, 2013. One of the poll promises made by the Left Democratic Front (LDF) was to review the scheme. However, a committee was constituted for this only at the end of the tenure of the first Pinarayi Vijayan Government. It also did not take up the report submitted by the committee for scrutinization even after two years.
The cabinet has now taken up one of the main demands of government employees, even as they are upset over the non-payment of arrears of salary revision and dearness allowance. The ensuing Lok Sabha poll too is viewed as a factor behind the LDF government finally acting on its promise.
Meanwhile, it is learned that the re-examination committee in its report suggested that there are practical difficulties in withdrawing the contributory pension scheme and that instead the Government should extend more benefits to the employees. The Government is left with two options – either to withdraw the scheme or to continue it by providing more privileges to the employees. While the Centre and several states have increased the government share towards the pension scheme, Kerala is unwilling to do the same.
Protest march in Delhi against the pension scheme
Meanwhile, several political outfits, including service organizations of the CPM, are holding a protest march to Parliament tomorrow, demanding the withdrawal of the contributory pension scheme across the country. Six states, including the Congress-ruled Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan, have already withdrawn the pension scheme.
