New Delhi: The Congress party is celebrating the launch of the Unified Pension Scheme, which they say is a reversal of the BJP-led governments previous stance. In response, the BJP has shot back with a criticism. Today, senior leader Ravi Shankar Prasad asked when the Congress will fulfill its campaign vows, especially its promise to revamp the pension system.Ravi Shankar Prasad, a former Union law minister, questioned Congress leader Rahul Gandhis actions. He asked, I want to ask Rahul Gandhi -- has his government implemented the Old Pension Scheme as promised in Himachal Pradesh Prasad sought to know if Congress had fulfilled its promise to restore the old pension scheme in the state.Ravi Shankar Prasad criticizes congress over pension promisesFormer minister Ravi Shankar Prasad criticized the Congress party, saying, The Congress party has become so wary of the palpable falsehood of its assurance about pension, it could not muster the courage to include that as a part of its manifesto in the Lok Sabha elections.Governing India is a serious business... The Congress party just makes announcements to garner votes and now the public has lost trust in its decisions, he added further.The Unified Pension Scheme largely mirrors the pre-2004 Old Pension Scheme, providing government employees with a lifelong monthly benefit equivalent to 50 percent of their last drawn basic pay, thereby ensuring a predictable and stable source of income after retirement. In contrast, the New Pension Scheme, which was introduced by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in 2004, calculates pension payouts based on the contributions made by both the government and the employee, thereby linking the benefit to individual investment.Pension scheme reforms spark debateThe New Pension Schemes introduction was met with resistance from most Opposition states, with five states opting to maintain the Old Pension Scheme, which exempted employees from making contributions - a benefit still advocated by various employee groups. Conversely, the United Pension Scheme, set to commence in April 2025, will be a contributory scheme, requiring employees to contribute 10% and the government to contribute 18.5%, with the possibility of the latter percentage increasing in the future.Congress chief slams BJPs policyMallikarjun Kharge, the Congress chief, mocked the BJP by saying that the U in United Pension Scheme represents U-turn, criticizing the governments tendency to make abrupt changes in their policies, a trend he claims has become increasingly evident during the BJPs third term.He posted and captioned that read, The U in UPS stands for Modi Govts U turns! Post June 4, the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister.The U in UPS stands for Modi Govts U turns!Post June 4, the power of the people has prevailed over the arrogance of power of the Prime Minister.— Rollback in the budget regarding Long Term Capital Gain / Indexation— Sending Waqf Bill to JPC— Rollback of Broadcast… pic.twitter.com/DJbDoEyl6g— Mallikarjun Kharge (@kharge) August 25, 2024
