Journalism of Courage
There is no proposal under consideration of the government of India for restoration of the old pension scheme (OPS), Union Minister of State for Finance Bhagwat Karad informed Lok Sabha on Monday.
In a written reply to a question by Asaduddin Owaisi of AIMIM, Karad said, “The state governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand have informed the Central government/Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) about their decision to restart old pension scheme (OPS) for their state government employees.”
“The state government of Punjab on November 18, 2022, has issued notification regarding implementation of the OPS to the government employees who are presently being covered under the National Pension System (NPS),” the Minister said.
Karad informed, “The state governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, have sent proposals to the Central government/PFRDA to return the accumulated corpus of subscribers under NPS to respective state governments. No such proposal has been received from the state government of Punjab.”
“In response to the proposals of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Jharkhand, PFRDA has informed the respective state governments that there is no provision under Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Act-2013 read along with PFRDA (Exits and Withdrawals under the National Pension System) Regulations- 2015, and other relevant regulations, as amended from time to time, vide which the funds, which are already deposited both in the form of government contribution and employees’ contribution towards NPS, along with accruals, can be refunded and deposited back to the state government,” he said.
The Minister further said, “There is no proposal under consideration of government of India for restoration of old pension scheme.”
In a written reply to a separate question, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary said, “Several requests have been received for inclusion of images of freedom fighters, eminent personalities, Gods and Goddesses, animals, etc. on Indian banknotes.”
Congress member Anto Antony had asked whether the government has received any request/representation to include more images (including the images of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha) on Indian currency notes. To this, Choudhary replied, “Yes, Sir”.
“…several requests/ suggestions have been received regarding images on currency notes. RBI issued a press release dated June 6, 2022, in this regard clarifying that there is no proposal for changes to the existing currency and banknotes,” Choudhary said.
