State employees in a fix; Govt yet to find alternative for participatory pension scheme

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the latest unified pension scheme for civil service officers in the state was approved immediately, no decision was taken on a scheme to replace the participatory pension scheme for state employees.

The central government announced the unified pension scheme in April. Civil service officers had requested the state government to make it applicable to them as well on the same day.

Meanwhile, a committee comprising the Finance Minister, Law Minister and Chief Secretary was appointed to study a scheme to replace the participatory pension scheme, but no recommendations were made.

Although the state government announced that it would implement a 'guaranteed pension' in the 2023 budget, no action was taken. If the decision is to continue with the participatory pension, the employees' demand increases in the government share from 10% to 14%.

The government's share in the civil service employees' pension scheme was increased from 10% to 18.5%.

Out of 5.15 lakh employees in the state, 1.98 lakh are on a contributory pension. The government's share in the contributory pension is only 10 per cent. There is concern since a good percentage of employees in the lower rungs receive only a nominal pension. To address this, the Centre implemented a unified pension scheme in which half of the average salary of the last 12 months before retirement is received as pension.

After the Centre implemented the Unified Pension Scheme in April, the states of Maharashtra, Odisha, Uttarakhand and Haryana adopted the scheme. The Finance Department says that a decision on the new pension system in Kerala will be taken after assessing the situation. The government asked a committee comprising the Chief Secretary and the Finance Secretary to conduct a comparative study and submit a report. The state employees are demanding that at least a scheme akin to a unified pension scheme be implemented in the state.