AS hundreds of thousands of employees of the Punjab Government, especially teachers, are protesting against anti-employees policies of the provincial government, the Federal Government is reported to be on the verge of announcing a highly discriminatory pension scheme on the pretext of so-called reforms. The proposal submitted to the Prime Minister for approval envisages measures that would drastically reduce the amount of pension and the pensionary benefits for retiring employees of the public sector.
No doubt, the Government had announced some reforms in the pension scheme at the time of presentation of the federal budget but the latest proposal has some additional points, which would badly impact one of the most vulnerable segments of the population. It envisages that pension will be given as a defined contributory model and the defined benefit model where all expenses are borne by the government will be abandoned. The pension will be calculated on the basis of the last three years’ pay against the existing practice of granting pension on the basis of the last drawn salary at the time of retirement. An increase in pension would be granted on the pension calculated at the time of retirement, proportion of commutation amount would come down and annual increase in pension would be restricted to a maximum of ten percent irrespective of the rate of inflation, leaving pensioners at the mercy of circumstances. The Punjab government has come out with an even more stringent pension scheme besides plans to deprive retiring employees the benefit of leave encashment. Similarly, there is a plan to privatize public sector educational institutions leaving the entire population at the mercy of the private sector which mostly considers education as a profitable commercial venture. The new policies, based obviously on the concept of reducing expenditure, show that the State is abdicating its responsibility towards the poor and vulnerable strata of the society. What is the Government there for if it cannot take care of its old people and avoids responsibility for provision of education and health to the general public?
