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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Eye on polls: Minimum PF pension of Rs 1,000 a month likely-Vikas Dhoot

Eye on polls: Minimum PF pension of Rs 1,000 a month likely-Vikas Dhoot

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published Published on Aug 14, 2012   modified Modified on Aug 14, 2012
-The Economic Times

Nearly 6 crore formal sector employees could look forward to retiring with a minimum pension of Rs 1,000 a month, in addition to their provident fund savings, if the finance ministry green signals a labour ministry proposal to increase the pension of PF subscribers.
 
At present, most provident fund subscribers receive less than Rs 500 a month as pension after decades of service, with some getting as low as 4 or 12.

The labour ministry, which oversees the scheme, has drawn sharp and persistent criticism from parliamentary panels, trade unions, and, in recent weeks, Congress MPs such as Shashi Tharoor.

With Lok Sabha elections just 18 months away and several states going to polls this year and the next, an increase in monthly pension could reap rich political dividends for the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.

No Bonus for PF Subscribers

Attempts by the labour ministry to set a monthly floor of Rs 1,000 — which would entail an additional annual outlay of Rs 600 crore — have been held up for the past couple of years due to a deadlock over who would bear the additional cost: employers or the government.
 
Employers contribute 12% of workers' salaries to their EPF accounts, over two-thirds of which is diverted to an employees' pension scheme launched in 1995. The government chips in with a subsidy of 1.16% of the salary (up to Rs 6,500 a month) towards this scheme.

"Employers have strongly resisted any additional burden in a slowing economy," a senior labour ministry official told ET. "The cash-strapped government is also reluctant to spend Rs 600 crore more on a scheme on which it already spends Rs 1,000 crore as annual subsidy," he added. After discussions between Labour Secretary Mrutyunjay Sarangi, Central PF Commissioner RC Mishra and actuarial experts, the labour ministry has proposed to do away with a provision under the pension scheme that confers two years' bonus to all employees completing 20 years of service.

According to an internal government note accessed by ET, withdrawing the bonus under the pension scheme would generate sufficient savings to not just pay a minimum monthly retirement income of Rs 1,000, but also pay a special 5% relief to all pensioners drawing over Rs 1,000 per month.

Though a formal communique is awaited, the finance ministry has indicated its willingness to support the proposal which is revenue-neutral, said the labour ministry official. The official said his ministry had also recommended a second option of raising the government's contribution under the scheme to 1.79% of the salary from 1.16% now. But the finance ministry is likely to accept the proposal to scrap bonus. The pension scheme for provident fund holders was launched in 1995 by the Narasimha Rao government when Manmohan Singh was the finance minister.

The scheme had envisaged an annual inflation relief to pensioners. But no such relief has been paid since 2000. All provident fund subscribers who retired from service after 1995 are eligible for the scheme. The parliamentary standing committee on labour had, in February 2009, criticized the government for failing to revise the contribution rate 15 years after operationalisation of the scheme. The panel said this "speaks volumes about the callous attitude of the government towards the workforce".

Former minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor recently went a step further to demand a minimum pension of Rs 5,000 a month for provident fund members. "There are cases of pensioners with 40 years' service receiving Rs 550 a month," he said last fortnight.


The Economic Times, 14 August, 2012, http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/economy/finance/eye-on-polls-minimum-pf-pension-of-rs-1000-a-month-likely/articleshow/15484214.cms?


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