Govt staff seek tweaks to Unified Pension Scheme

A SECTION OF central government employees has sought certain modifications to the Unified Pension Scheme, including immediate pension benefits for central paramilitary personnel who retire early, and the return of the pension corpus to staff who leave service before completing 10 years, sources said.

- PRASANTA SAHU

Similarly, they also expressed concern over the lack of any provision under the UPS for pension monies for the dependent children of single parents. Given the changes in familial structures, the staff seek the inclusion of children of single parents for pension.

These are among the issues being taken up by the Joint Consultative Machinery for employees with the Central government, sources said.

Given the tepid response to the UPS, which was rolled out for switching from the market-linked National Pension System (NPS) on April 1 for three months, the Centre recently extended the deadline for exercising the option for staff by another three months or till September 30.