8th Pay Commission latest news: 5 big pension demands raised at crucial NC-JCM meeting

During the annual NC-JCM meeting last week, Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan assured employee representatives that the Parliamentary Standing Committee’s recommendation for raising pension every 5 years would be referred to the 8th Pay Commission.

The staff side is pushing for pension revisions every 5 years, arguing that updates only during Pay Commissions don’t allow pensioners to keep up with inflation.

The staff side has opposed reducing family pension to 30% of the notional pay of a deceased employee or pensioner. It argued that dependents should receive higher pension support. At present, full pension is calculated at 50% plus dearness allowance of the employee’s last- drawn average pay, while family pension is limited to 30%.

The NC-JCM staff side has sought the removal of the requirement to submit No Income Certificates for physically disabled dependent children to receive family pension.

The staff side has demanded Old Pension Scheme (OPS) benefits for certain employees whose recruitment process began before the NPS notification date of December 22, 2003.

This includes employees appointed against vacancies notified before that date and certain compassionate appointments where applications were submitted before December 22, 2003.

The staff side also proposed expanding the definition of ‘family’ to include a widowed dependent daughter-in-law for family pension eligibility. The Cabinet Secretary directed the Department of Personnel and Training (DOP&T) to examine the proposal in consultation with the Ministry of Law.