For a long time, the private sector employees covered under the EPFO have long been demanding an increase in their minimum pension, presently it is fixed at Rs 1,000 per month.
Need To Increase In Minimum Pension Amount
After a struggle of 7–8-years in presenting their case to the government, a delegation of EPS-95 pensioners met Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on January 10.
They have pushed for their long-pending demand of a minimum monthly pension of Rs 7,500, along with dearness allowance (DA).
Earlier during 2014, the Centre fixed the minimum pension at Rs 1,000 under the EPS-95 (Employees’ Pension Scheme 1995) run by the retirement fund body EPFO.
The pensioners have been agitating for an increase in the minimum pension since then.
Besides this the employees are also demanding dearness allowance (DA) and free medical treatment for both the pensioners and their spouses.
In response to this, the FM assured the delegation that their demands would be reviewed and addressed with a sympathetic approach as per a statement issued by the EPS-95 National Agitation Committee.
The demands of pensioners would be looked into, said Sitharaman while assuring them.
A Hope For Private Employees
This assurance definitely brings hope to the private employees.
The EPS-95 National Agitation Committee statement mentions that the government must act decisively by announcing a minimum pension of Rs 7,500 with DA in the upcoming budget.
The trade unions also met Nirmala Sitharaman during the customary pre-budget consultative meeting with the Finance Minister.
But, the unions advocated for increasing the minimum EPFO pension fivefold to Rs 5,000 per month.
The amount is notably lower than the proposed Rs 7,500 by the EPS-95 National Agitation Committee.
EPS-95 panel slams unions’ demand, calls for fairer pension hike
Considering the lower amount of unions’ demand, the EPS-95 National Agitation Committee criticised labor organisations for advocating a lower minimum pension of Rs 5,000.
Further, they have deemed it inadequate and unfair to meet the basic needs of pensioners.
Moving ahead, the body claimed that over 36.60 lakh pensioners still receive less than this amount, despite the government’s 2014 announcement setting the minimum monthly pension at Rs 1,000.
It appears that EPF members are pushing for a Rs 7,500 minimum pension under EPS-1995.
So far, EPF members contribute to 12% of their basic pay towards the provident fund regulated by the EPFO, with employers matching this contribution.
While the employer’s contribution is divided into two parts – out of that 8.33% is allocated to the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), while 3.67% goes towards the EPF scheme.
