‘Why not Old Pension Scheme’, ask various government employee unions in Andhra Pradesh

With the State government announcing its decision to go ahead with the implementation of the Guaranteed Pension Scheme through an Ordinance, the unions, excepting A.P. JAC Amaravati and APNGOs’ Association, are gearing up for a ‘chalo Vijayawada’ protest on September 1 saying that Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy has let them down by going back on his promise of restoring the OPS within one week of coming to power.

Even as the Government of Andhra Pradesh has announced its decision to go ahead and implement through an Ordinance the Guaranteed Pension Scheme (GPS), calling it a viable middle path between the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the representatives of the government employees’ unions are gearing up for a ‘chalo Vijayawada’ protest on September 1 with the slogan, ‘Why not OPS’.

The meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) with the representatives of various employee unions on August 29 remained inconclusive with the Ministers insisting on implementation of the GPS, which they argued was a better option than the market-linked CPS and that it would ensure 50% of the last drawn pay as pension to the employees.

Leaders of the employees’ associations are divided over the issue.

While the leaders of unions such as the A.P. Joint Action Committee (JAC) Amaravati and the APNGOs’ Association have agreed for the GPS with reluctance, their counterparts from the Andhra Pradesh Government Employees’ Association (APGEA), the A.P. Secretariat CPS Association, and various teacher unions are opposed to the government’s proposal.

The employees share a common feeling that Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has let them down by going back from his promise to restore the OPS.

The employees’ associations have squarely rejected the GPS, which, the Ministers say, will remove the uncertainty of not knowing what one will receive as pension from a fully market-linked CPS.

The employee unions counter the argument saying that the GPS is no better than CPS, and recall a similar plan to guarantee 50% of the pension recommended by the Thakkar Committee during the previous TDP term.