The issue of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) of government employees has resurfaced again — a demand to scrap the New Pension Scheme and restore the old It is showing the potential to become a major poll narrative at the national level, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections scheduled early next year.

A delegation of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) led by General Secretary Ravindra Himte, submitted a memorandum to Finance Minister Nirmala Sitaraman demanding Guaranteed Pension under NPS like Old Pension Scheme (OPS) on Wednesday.

BMS has conducted a huge demonstration at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi in which thousands of employees belonging to Defence, Railways, Postal, Central Government establishments, State Government and Local Body have participated. BMS has welcomed some of the major changes but the present system does not provide an assured pension scheme in the New Pension Scheme (NPS). So there is a demand to scrap the NPS and restore the Old Pension Scheme.

Responding to BMS demand, the Finance Minister assured that the Government is considering employees’ issues seriously and will look into it to take some positive steps.

Speaking to The Statesman, General Secretary, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh “We have submitted our demands pointing out the important things that are not there in the NPS. And the minister has assured that the respective committee will look into it”.

This can become a major electoral headache for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). An indication towards this unfolding phenomenon was on display at the Ramlila Maidan in the National Capital recently.  A massive “Pension Shankhnaad” rally was organised under the banner of National Movement for Old Pension Scheme (NMOPS).

The huge number of protestors present at the venue got the support of farmers and some other sections of society. The rally is a pointer to a couple of important factors. The first is the return of employee politics to the centre of the poll narrative.

The increasing social insecurity, job losses, contractual mode of employment, loss of social security benefits has compelled people to critically examine the New Pension scheme. And most of the employees’ unions want the old pension scheme back in totality.

This has been particularly critical after the economic crisis emerging from the Covid lockdown. The OPS demand has the potential to impact the poll outcomes. The biggest example of this were the results delivered by the hill state of Himachal Pradesh where the Congress returned to power in the Assembly polls less than a year ago. After Himachal Pradesh, the governments of the Congress ruled Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan announced reverting to the OPS.

The Punjab cabinet also took a decision in this direction some months ago while Sikkim and Telangana are also believed to be moving in this direction. “It is plainly an issue of social security which is the right of the employees,” explained President of National Movement for Old Pension Schemes (NMOPS) Vijay Kumar Bandhu.

“We have already announced that we want the Old Pension Schemes (OPS) in totality. So we will not compromise in any given situation. If the government pays no attention to our demands we will launch a ‘Vote Pe Chot’ campaign that would carry the single line message of ‘Vote For Pension’,” added Bandhu, the NMOPS president.