Pension age in Kerala




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Business Line, March 18, 2013

Letters

Pension scheme
This refers to the report “Retirement age raised to 60 for new recruits” (Business Line, March 16).
It is intriguing that the Kerala Finance Minister has proposed raising the retirement age of a category of employees who are yet to join the service at a time when his government is struggling for existence. This is likely to be interpreted as a gimmick to divide opinion and divert attention from crucial issues. The ‘innocent’ omission of the relevant proposal while delivering the Budget Speech makes the motives murkier.
M. G. Warrier
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(This article was published on March 17, 2013)
 Unedited version  of the above letter:


March 16, 2013
The Editor
Hindu Business Line



Letters

Kerala pension age

This refers to the report “Retirement age raised to 60 for new recruits” (March 16). Business Line is one of the few newspapers which did not use the words ‘pension age’ while reporting appropriately the raising of ‘retirement age’ announced in the Kerala budget 2013-14. ‘Pension’, by definition, is a government commitment to make regular payment to people above a specified age. The new entrants to government service in Kerala from April 1, 2013 and the employees covered by New Pension Scheme introduced by central government for employees (excluding defence services) joining service from January 1, 2004 and identical and slightly modified schemes introduced by various state governments and public sector organisations variously known as ‘Contributory Pension Scheme’, ‘Participatory Pension Scheme’ and so on, from various subsequent dates are not eligible for pension as understood in the common parlor so far. Viewed from this angle, even the nomenclature ‘New Pension Scheme’ is a misnomer.
It is intriguing that the Kerala FM has chosen to propose raising the retirement age of a category of employees who are yet to join the service at a time his government itself is struggling for existence. This is likely to be interpreted as a gimmick to divide opinion and divert attention from immediate crucial issues. The ‘innocent’ omission of the relevant proposal while delivering the Budget Speech makes the motives murkier.
M G Warrier, Thiruvananthapuram

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