Lower qualifying years of service to 20 for assured pension under UPS: Employee representatives

Central government employee representatives sought further relaxations in the rules governing the newly unveiled Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) Monday. Addressing journalists in New Delhi, M Raghavaiah, Leader (Staff Side) at the Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM) for Central Government employees, said qualifying years of service for an assured pension must be lowered to 20.

Employees currently need to serve at least 25 years to be eligible for an assured pension under the UPS announced by the centre last week. This assured pension will be disbursed monthly after the employee attains 60 years of age. It is calculated as 50% of average monthly pay over the last 12 months before the employee retires.



"The relaxation will do justice to those who join government service after attaining 35 years of age due to belated induction and make them eligible for enhanced coverage under UPS," Raghavaiah said.

Besides heading the staff side of JCM, Raghavaiah is also the General Secretary of the National Federation of Indian Railwaymen.

According to him, job seekers sometimes wait for years before joining a government job since the recruitment process is delayed and prolonged. "The employee will lose out on pension for no fault," he added.

The centre is currently offering pay that is proportionate to a lesser service period up to a minimum of 10 years of service. There is also an assured family pension, which is 60% of the pension of the employee immediately before her/his demise.


Raghavaiah also said there is a need to enhance the monthly emoluments that build the corpus of the lumpsum payment. Currently, 1/10th of monthly emoluments will be credited by the government for every completed six months of service as a lump sum payout.

He demanded that 1/4th of the monthly emoluments should be credited to ensure that a "reasonable lump sum payment is given to a retiring employee," Raghavaiah said.

In addition to these, he said an additional pension must be offered to pensioners who cross 80 years of age, as was the case under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS).