The recently announced Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) for Central Government employees will be available only to those who are currently subscribers of the New Pension Scheme (NPS). These include retired employees as well. Under the UPS scheme, employees are guaranteed 50 percent of their average basic salary as a pension in the last 12 months before retirement if they have a minimum qualifying service of 25 years. According to Bhasha's news, the amount received in NPS depends on the returns from the market.

Pension of Rs 10,000 per month on retirement

According to the news, the Union Cabinet has recently approved the UPS scheme. In this scheme, the pension will be decided on a proportionate basis for a minimum service period of 10 years. Also, a pension of Rs 10,000 per month has also been ensured on retirement after a minimum service of 10 years. This scheme has been brought to address the concerns of government employees related to NPS. NPS was implemented on January 1, 2004. Earlier, under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), employees used to get 50 percent of their last basic salary as a pension. However, unlike the old pension scheme, in UPS, employees will have to contribute 10 percent of their basic salary and dearness allowance. At the same time, the contribution of the employer (Central Government) will be 18.5 percent.

Then more than 90 lakh government employees will benefit

Information and Broadcasting Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said on the social media platform 'X' on Sunday that UPS will benefit 23 lakh central government employees. If the states also adopt the UPS structure, then a total of more than 90 lakh government employees who are currently part of NPS will benefit from it. The Maharashtra government, which is going to face assembly elections later this year, has announced to adoption of UPS for its employees. It has become the first state in the country to do so.  

This provision is in the NPS

Under NPS, the employer's contribution is fixed at 14 percent while the employee's contribution is fixed at 10 percent. However, the final payment to the employee under NPS depends on the market returns of the fund, which is mostly invested in government loans. Under OPS, which was in force till December 2003, government employees were not required to make any contribution. However, they used to contribute to the General Provident Fund (GPF). The deposited amount was given at the time of retirement of the employee along with interest. Compared to OPS, NPS did not become a center of attraction among employees. In such a situation, some non-BJP-ruled states decided to go back to the old pension scheme, in which the benefit related to dearness allowance (DA) was given.

The additional burden of Rs 6,250 crore every year

The Union Cabinet approved UPS on August 24, fulfilling the long-pending demands of government employees ahead of the assembly elections in some states. UPS will enable 23 lakh eligible central government employees to get assured pensions. However, those who opt for UPS will not be able to go back to NPS. UPS is estimated to put an additional burden of Rs 6,250 crore on the government treasury every year. However, due to changes in the number of employees, the expenditure on this will vary every year. Apart from this, employees retiring before March 31, 2025, are to be paid an outstanding amount of Rs 800 crore under NPS. If these retired employees opt for UPS, they will get the outstanding amount.