Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday took a dig at the Centre over the announcement of Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), saying the "U in UPS stands for Modi government's U-turns".
In a tweet, Kharge credited the Opposition's resurgence after the Lok Sabha elections for the BJP-led government going back on its key decisions recently.
"The ‘U’ in UPS stands for Modi Govt’s U turns. Post June 4, the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister," Kharge said.
The Congress chief listed some recent decisions by the Narendra Modi government which were withdrawn after backlash. These include rollback in the Budget regarding Long Term Capital Gain/Indexation, sending the Waqf bill to the Joint Parliamentary Committee, withdrawal of the draft Broadcasting bill, and scrapping lateral entry into bureaucracy.
"We will keep ensuring accountability and protect 140 crore Indians from this despotic government," Kharge said.
On Saturday, the Union Cabinet approved the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS), which assures guaranteed pension to government employees. The decision was taken after a Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Employees opting for UPS would be eligible for an assured pension of 50 per cent of the average basic pay drawn over the last 12 months before the superannuation for a minimum qualifying service of 25 years.
The scheme also guarantees an assured minimum pension of Rs 10,000 per month on superannuation after a minimum of 10 years of service.
Notably, several non-BJP states had decided to revert to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in opposition to the New Pension Scheme (NPS). Employee organisations in some other states also raised demand for the same.
Under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), retired government employees receive 50 per cent of their last drawn salary as monthly pension. The amount keeps increasing with the hike in the Dearness Allowance (DA) rates. OPS is not fiscally sustainable as it is not contributory, and the burden on the exchequer keeps mounting.
