Nagaland Government employees under CANSSEA hold dharna demanding Old Pension Scheme

Nagaland Government employees under the banner of the Confederation of All Nagaland State Service Employees’ Association (CANSSEA) on Tuesday joined the nationwide protest demanding the Old Pension scheme (OPS) and the scrapping of the National Pension System (NPS) by protesting outside the Civil Secretariat in Kohima.

The agitation was carried out in line with the Nationwide Dharna on March 14 under the aegis of All India State Government Employees Federation (AISGEF).

They staged a peaceful protest by holding placards that read “NPS is no pension scheme”, “Scrap NPS, Pension is my right”, “NPS is fooling people”, and so on.

CANSSEA president Dr Ilang told reporters that the AISGEF has seven demands but the CANSSEA is focusing on the National Pension Scheme.

“We have around 40,000 employees already. We are demanding that NPS has to be scrapped,” he said.

It may be mentioned that AISGEF and the Central Government Employees and Workers (CGEW) made a seven-point charter of demand to be carried out all over the country on December 8, 2022 at Talkatora Stadium, New Delhi.

The seven-point charter of demand includes:

· Annual PFRDA Act, Scrap NPS

· Constitute the VIII Central Pay Commission

· Release all DR/DA including confiscated arrears

· Regularize all contractual/daily waged employees and fill up vacancies in the state government

· Stop privatization or corporation of PSUs

· Remove all riders and restrictions on compassionate employment

· Ensure democratic trade union rights

The president of CANSSEA noted that it cannot be achieved by the State Government alone and urged the state government and the Centre to work together and address the issue.

NPS was introduced by the Centre for all government appointments made after January 1, 2004, and is regulated under the Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) Act 2013.

“Scrap NPS and give us what is the due right for all employees, that is the Old Pension Scheme which is a defined pension scheme governed by the government. Whereas NPS is a privatized company where we don’t know where the money is going, we do not know whether we will get the pension,” he said.

Dr Ilang said that there should be ‘One Nation, One Pension’ and that “it is the right of every employee, the right of every individual who has hard-earned.”

He mentioned that they are joining the four neighboring states of Delhi that are having a sit-in Dharna in the Parliament and added that they will not stop until and unless the Government of India repeals the Act.

More than 17 lakh Maharashtra government employees also commenced their indefinite strike today demanding the reintroduction of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in the state.

It was also informed that a memorandum was submitted to the Chief Secretary of Nagaland, J Alam to scrap the NPS and implement OPS.

So far, 5 states including Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh have scrapped the NPS and have restarted OPS.

Mokokchung Times