Oppn Cong, BJP oppose Kerala move to raise retirement age, call it ‘betrayal’ of youths

State Congress president K Sudhakaran said the UDF, led by his party, “cannot agree” with the decision without factoring in concerns of Kerala’s youth. “The government has been a total failure in generating jobs. The CPI(M) came to power promising 40 lakh jobs, but the party has now betrayed the youths,’’ he asserted.

Calling the increase in pension age a “challenge to the people”, state BJP chief K Surendran said DYFI and SFI, the CPI(M)’s youth and students’ wings, respectively, have lost their relevance to work among the youth. “It’s better that these organisations are dissolved. DYFI is concerned only in ensuring backdoor entry for their family members in government service and PSUs,” the BJP leader said.

Congress’s V D Satheesan, the Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, claimed that the decision to raise the pension age in PSUs is an initial step to raise pension age in government service as well. “When unemployment is high, the decision to increase the pension age without consulting the Opposition or youth organisations is a betrayal of the youth,” he said.

While DYFI, in a statement, urged the government to withdraw the order, it did not announce any protest over this issue.

On Saturday, the state Finance department had issued an order raising the retirement age of employees in most state PSU from 56/58 years to 60 years after the Cabinet ratified an expert committee’s recommendation to make retirement age and salary in government undertakings uniform.

Retirement age, however, has not been raised at the state’s biggest loss-making PSUs: Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Kerala State Electricity Board and Kerala Water Authority. Last week, the government appointed another committee to study enhancing retirement age in these entities.

According to the government, the decision will benefit nearly 1.5 lakh employees of 122 other PSUs and six financial entities in the state. Otherwise, there will be no fresh appointment in any of these entities for the next four years.

The CPI(M) and DYFI have always opposed raising the retirement age of state government and PSU staff, as well as that of government teachers, contending that any such move would adversely impact the prospects of job-seekers. In the past, DYFI had held massive protests against such moves by the Congress-led UDF governments.

The Kerala government has been increasing the pension age, sector by sector, over the years. Pension age of government doctors, for instance, was increased to 60 in 2017. The government has introduced a contributory pension for state employees who have joined service since 2013. The retirement age of those under contributory pension schemes is 60.