India News | No Plans Yet to Restore Old Pension Scheme for State Govt Employees: Soren

Ranchi, Feb 28 (PTI) Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Monday said there were no plans now for considering any proposal to bring back the old pension scheme for those state government employees who joined service on or after January 1, 2004.

In a major announcement in its budget, the Ashok Gehlot-led Rajasthan government decided to implement the old pension scheme from next fiscal for all employees appointed on or after January 1, 2004.

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Replying to a query by legislator Pradeep Yadav in the state Assembly, Soren said there was no such proposal under consideration at present.

The chief minister said the member had raised the issue in light of the recent announcement by the Rajasthan government but there was no such proposal under consideration and the government will decide on it as and when it comes to it.

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The old pension scheme for government employees was discontinued in the country from April 1, 2004, and the new National Pension Scheme (NPS) was implemented.

A delegation of Government Employees Union had met Soren on February 24, a day before the commencement of the Budget session of the Jharkhand Assembly, demanding restoration of the old pension scheme.

National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS), an umbrella body of more than 14 lakh central and state government employees, had recently written to Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Minister of State for NPS modification.

In reply to another issue, Soren said the state government has no plans to ban the sale and consumption of liquor.

Congress legislator Dipika Pandey Singh had argued that banning the sale of liquor would help in checking atrocities against women in the state, to which the chief minister said consumption of liquor is not the sole reason behind the atrocities.

The state government, he said, had taken up several welfare schemes for women including the ‘Phulo Jhano' scheme to provide alternative means of livelihood to women involved in the sale of country liquor and so far 25,000 women have been benefitted from the scheme.

The third supplementary budget demand of Rs 2,698 crore was also tabled in the House by the State Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)