The discussion regarding the 8th Pay Commission is intensifying and the expectation of increase in salary and pension among central employees is also increasing. Meanwhile, another big question is arising. Revision of pension of retired employees from government banks. Many retired bank employees say that unlike government employees, their pension does not change from time to time. He claims that there has been no major amendment in the basic pension for almost three decades.
issue raised in parliament
Recently this issue was raised by MP Konda Vishweshwar Reddy in the Lok Sabha. He asked that when pension has been increased in some financial institutions, can the pension of retired employees of public sector banks also be increased? Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaturvedi answered this question.
Pension of RBI and NABARD employees increased
The government said that pension has been increased in some financial institutions. A 10% increase in the basic pension and dearness relief (DR) of retired employees of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has been approved. This increase is applicable to employees retired before November 1, 2022 and is effective from November 1, 2022.
At the same time, the pension of retired employees of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) was also revised in different phases. The pension of employees retired before November 1, 2012 was revised with effect from March 1, 2019. The pension of employees retired before 1 November 2017 was revised with effect from 12 June 2023. However, the government also said that at present there is no new proposal for pension revision of NABARD employees who retired before November 1, 2022.
Why are retired bank employees demanding?
Retired employees of government banks have been demanding to update their pension for many years. He says that the basic pension structure has not changed for almost 30 years. The salary of bank employees kept increasing, but the pension did not increase accordingly. Also, pension in many other sectors is revised from time to time.
How is the pension of bank employees decided?
According to the government, pension in public sector banks is given under different rules. These include State Bank of India and 11 nationalized banks, in which the pension of State Bank of India employees is decided under the SBI Employee Pension Fund Regulation 2014. Whereas the pension of employees of nationalized banks is decided under the Bank (Employees) Pension Regulations 1995. There is no provision for amendment of basic pension in these rules.
What is the benefit in pension?
Although basic pension does not increase, pensioners get dearness relief. It is revised every 6 months. This reduces the effect of inflation to some extent. Apart from this, monthly ex-gratia payment is also being given to eligible pensioners and family pensioners under 12th Bipartite Settlement and 9th Joint Note.
Government’s clear answer
The government has clearly stated in the Parliament that at present no proposal to increase the basic pension of retired employees of government banks is under consideration. This means that currently pensioners will continue to get only dearness relief and ex-gratia payment under the existing rules. However, due to the intensifying discussion regarding the 8th Pay Commission, the issue of bank pension update may remain a part of the policy debate in the coming times.