No proposal to bring back old pension scheme for state employees: MP govt tells Assembly

The Madhya Pradesh government has no proposal under consideration to implement the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for its employees, the Legislative Assembly was told on Tuesday. The government's written reply came to questions asked by Congress MLAs Ravindra Singh Tomar and Suresh Raje, and BJP legislator Dinesh Rai Munmun.

"There is no proposal for implementing OPS," Minister for Finance Jagdish Devda stated.

MP government employees appointed on or after January 1, 2005, are covered under the New Pension Scheme (NPS) as per the orders issued on April 13, 2005, the minister said.


The reply said 4,83,332 employees and officials of the state are registered under the NPS.

Earlier last week, Madhya Pradesh Congress president Kamal Nath had announced to bring back the OPS if voted to power in the Assembly polls slated for November 2023.

"The pension of government employees, which was stopped by the Shivraj (Singh Chouhan) government, will be restored as soon as the Congress government is formed in Madhya Pradesh," Nath tweeted.

The affected employees, under the banner of the MP chapter of the National Movement of Old Pension Scheme, are holding agitations demanding restoration of OPS, saying NPS is inadequate for their post-retirement life.

The NPS vs OPS debate is politically charged. The AAP government in Punjab recently announced its plan to implement the OPS by replacing the NPS.

Under the old pension scheme, retired employees received 50% of their last salary as a monthly pension. In contrast, NPS is a contributory pension scheme.