It could spell a fiscal disaster but a Himachal Pradesh victory could give the Congress a pan-India issue for pitching in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections – bringing back the old pension scheme (OPS) nationwide.
It was the Congress’ OPS promise that caught the attention of voters in Himachal Pradesh, a state where government employees are the most influential section and hence, the issue was put to the electoral test. The party’s star campaigner Priyanka Gandhi Vadra had promised at election rallies that the new Congress government would implement OPS in its first cabinet meeting. On BJP’s allegation that the promise was “economically inefficient”, Vadra pointed out how the OPS was being implemented in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
“OPS is definitely a major issue, not just in some states but across the country. Employees in BJP ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and others want reinstatement of OPS. The result of Himachal Pradesh has shown the way. OPS will be a major issue for us till 2024,” a senior Congress leader involved in the Himachal campaign told News18.
He noted how the BJP’s stand on OPS remained unclear, with outgoing chief minister Jai Ram Thakur promising a committee to look into it, while former BJP chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal openly supported the demand of employees for OPS. did. Meanwhile, central BJP leaders kept citing the financial impracticality of the scheme.
In 2003, the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government abolished the OPS to reduce the government’s mounting pension liabilities. The New Pension Scheme came into existence from 2004. Montek Singh Ahluwalia, the former head of the Planning Commission in the UPA era, also recently advocated that going back to OPS was not economically feasible and in fact remarked that “bringing back the old pension system is one of the The biggest revdi (doll) that is now being invented”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Has been criticizing the ‘Rewari politics’ of the opposition parties. Aam Aadmi Party has also decided to implement OPS in Punjab. Under OPS, the pension to government employees was fixed at 50 per cent of the last drawn basic pay. NPS replaced this from 2004, where the government reduced its contribution to the pension received by the retired employee. NPS was made mandatory from 2004 for all new recruits to central government service (except the armed forces). This meant less money in the hands of retired employees.
Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu has also recently warned of fiscal risks for states if they revert to OPS. The Congress leader earlier quoted, “Even the free ration scheme run by the NDA for nearly three years during the Covid-19 pandemic has put a huge financial burden but brought electoral results for them in states like Uttar Pradesh.” Is.” Amid inflation concerns, the Congress feels the OPS promise at the national level may resonate with the vote block of government employees and their families.
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