Workers at Ramlila Maidan rally call for old pension scheme restoration

 Workers at Ramlila Maidan rally call for old pension scheme restoration

Thousands of government employees from across the country gathered at Ramlila Maidan in Delhi on Sunday to protest the central government’s National Pension Scheme (NPS) while demanding the restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS).

Employees of central government, state governments and public sector undertakings gathered at the ground for the “Pension Shankhanaad Rally’ organised by the National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS) — an organisation leading the campaign in favour of OPS. “We are spreading the message for OPS restoration in every corner of the country. The old pension has been restored in four or five states through our efforts and struggle. Our team believes that if the central government ratifies the old pension scheme, then the onus won’t be on the state government,” said Vijay Kumar Bandhu, president of NMOPS, at the rally.

With a sea of protesters descending at the historical ground, the organisers said that employees from more than 20 states had gathered for the ‘Pension Shankhanaad Rally’, carrying tricolours and banners demanding the restoration of the old pension scheme.

Former Haryana chief minister and senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was present at Ramlila Maidan, announced his support for the protesting employees. “We fully supported the legitimate demand of the employee organisations associated with NMOPS. As soon as the Congress government is formed in Haryana, we will immediately fulfil this demand of the employees for old pension scheme,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party extended support to the protesters.

“Modi government should restore the old pension, honour the workers who serve the country,” the Congress said in a post in Hindi on social media website X, formerly Twitter.

AAP national convenor and Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal posted on X, “We have implemented OPS in Punjab and have written to the Centre for implementing it for Delhi govt employees.”

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not respond to HT’s requests for comments.

OPS guaranteed inflation and pay commission indexed pension payouts without any contribution from the employee. The new pension scheme (NPS), on the other hand, is built by employee and employer contribution and the returns are market-based, not a fixed proportion of the salary at the time of retirement. The earlier scheme is more generous towards government employees. In the past year, a number of Opposition-ruled states such as Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand , have moved from NPS to OPS, triggering a controversy. It also turned into an election issue in Himachal Pradesh, where government employees make up a significant chunk of the electorate.