VITALINFO: The Fund to Fall Back On

VITALINFO: The Fund to Fall Back On: This refers to ‘Back to the Beginning’ (ET, Nov 14). The article gives an agenda for an overhaul of the National Pension System, which ca...

TEXT:

The Fund to Fall Back On

This refers to ‘Back to the Beginning’ (ET, Nov 14). The article gives an agenda for an overhaul of the National Pension System, which can develop into a social security instrument for India’s workforce. But what is forgotten is the background in which the original NPS (New Pension Scheme) came into being in 2004. Its immediate “mandate” was to eliminate the existing defined-benefit-based pension scheme in government and the public sector. Central government employees in service as on December 31, 2003, have a defined-benefit pension scheme. The pension liabilities of central government that were being met on a “pay as you go” basis were becoming unmanageable. Budget 2003-04 contained a proposal to introduce the new restructured definedcontribution pension system for new entrants to central service. The New Pension Scheme for new entrants to central government service from January 1, 2004, except the armed forces, in the first stage, replacing the system of defined-benefit pension system was thus introduced through a notification dated December 22, 2003. 
- M G WARRIER, Mumbai (ET)

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