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It might trigger a fiscal disaster however the Himachal Pradesh win may have given the Congress a pan-India difficulty for pitching within the 2024 Lok Sabha elections — bringing again the Previous Pension Scheme (OPS) nationwide.
It was the OPS promise of the Congress that caught the flamboyant of the citizens in Himachal Pradesh, a state the place authorities workers are probably the most influential part and therefore, the problem was placed on electoral check. The get together’s star campaigner, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, promised in election rallies that the brand new Congress authorities would implement OPS in its first cupboard assembly. To the BJP’s cost that the promise was ‘financially unfeasible’, Vadra cited how OPS was being carried out in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.
“OPS is certainly a serious difficulty, not simply in a number of states however nationwide. In BJP-ruled states like Madhya Pradesh and others, workers need the restoration of OPS. Himachal Pradesh end result has proven the way in which. OPS will likely be a serious plank for us within the run-up to 2024,” a senior Congress chief concerned within the Himachal marketing campaign advised News18.
He cited how the BJP’s stand on OPS remained ambivalent, with outgoing chief minister Jai Ram Thakur promising a committee to look into it whereas former BJP chief minister Prem Kumar Dhumal brazenly backed the staff’ demand for OPS. In the meantime, central BJP leaders stored citing the monetary unviability of the scheme.
It was the Atal Bihari Vajpayee authorities in 2003 that had achieved away with OPS to cut back the burgeoning pension liabilities of the federal government. The New Pension Scheme got here into being from 2004. The previous Planning Fee chief within the UPA period, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, additionally not too long ago advocated that returning to OPS was not possible fiscally and in reality remarked that “bringing again the previous pension system is likely one of the greatest revdis (doles) that are actually being invented”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been slamming the ‘revadi politics’ of opposition events. The Aam Aadmi Social gathering has additionally determined to implement OPS in Punjab. Beneath the OPS, pension to authorities workers was fastened at 50 per cent of the final drawn fundamental pay. The NPS from 2004 modified this, the place the federal government lowered its contribution to the pension the retired worker would get. The NPS was made necessary for all new recruits to the Central Authorities Service (besides the armed forces) from 2004. This meant much less cash within the arms of retired workers.
Comptroller and Auditor Common of India (CAG) Girish Chandra Murmu has additionally not too long ago warned of fiscal dangers for states in the event that they revert to OPS. “Even the free ration scheme that has run for nearly three years by the NDA in the course of the Covid-19 pandemic has prompted an enormous fiscal burden however introduced electoral outcomes for them in states like Uttar Pradesh,” argued the Congress chief quoted earlier. Amidst inflation issues, Congress feels the OPS promise at a nationwide stage may resonate with vote-block of presidency workers and their households.
With inputs from News18
The put up Cong to take a leaf out of Priyanka’s HP playbook first appeared on IPA Newspack.
by way of Cong to take a leaf out of Priyanka’s HP playbook
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