EPS Pension: In this era of inflation, where the prices of milk and vegetables are skyrocketing, lakhs of elderly people of the country are forced to survive on a monthly pension of just Rs 1,000. For the last several years, EPS-95 pensioners have been holding on to the same hope that the government will take care of them and increase the minimum pension. After all, why is the green signal not being received from the government even after such a long wait?
After all, where is the problem?
This issue became heated recently in the Lok Sabha. The question was simple that why there is so much delay in increasing the minimum pension under EPS? Why is pension fixation work going on so slowly despite the orders of the Supreme Court? The Ministry of Labor and Employment, while clarifying its position on this, cited old data. The government says that in the year 2014, the minimum pension was fixed at Rs 1,000. Even at that time, the government had provided budgetary support to ensure that no elderly person got less than this amount. But the irony is that since 2014, inflation has increased manifold, but the pension amount has remained at the same place. The biggest problem is that this pension has neither been linked to dearness allowance nor to the cost of living index, due to which the purchasing power of the elderly is continuously decreasing.
What does the committee report say?
The biggest reason given by the government for not increasing the pension is ‘actuarial deficit’ i.e. lack of money in the fund. The ministry explained that the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) is a ‘pooled fund’. Its mathematics is simple, the employer deposits 8.33% of the employee’s salary and the government contributes 1.16% (up to a maximum salary of Rs 15,000).
According to the government, figures till March 31, 2019 show that there is a huge financial deficit in the fund. In such a situation, it does not seem possible to make a big increase in the pension amount or give dearness allowance. Not only this, when a high-level committee examined the feasibility of linking pension with Dearness Allowance (DA), they also gave up. It was clearly stated in the report that the condition of the existing fund is not such that the benefit of dearness allowance can be given to the pensioners. This is the technical glitch due to which the demand of Rs 7,500 is buried in the files.
What is happening after the Supreme Court order?
A ray of hope for pensioners was the order of the Supreme Court, in which it was said that pension should be fixed on the basis of higher salary. The government told Parliament that the process of implementing this order is underway. For this, online applications were invited, in which lakhs of people have applied. However, verification from employers and verification of paperwork is taking a lot of time. The government has cited its compulsions and lack of funds, but has not given any date or deadline on when the pension will be increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 7,500. Even on the demand for medical facilities and DA, the situation remains the same.