The Retired Employees Welfare Association (REWA) recently wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking clarity on pension revision for central government employees who retired before January 1, 2026. The REWA requested the Finance Ministry to amend the 8th Pay Commission’s terms of reference (ToR) to include pension and family pension revision clauses for these retirees.
The REWA also urged the Prime Minister that until a formal amendment to the 8th CPC ToR is done, the government should provide clarification or issue a press release to remove confusion among pensioners who retired before January 1 this year.
In the letter dated September 7, 2026, REWA General Secretary Sadhu Singh expressed concerns shared by 6.9 million pensioners and family pensioners who have retired before January 1, 2026. A copy of this letter has also been sent to the Finance Minister, Finance Secretary, and Secretary of the Department of Personnel & Pension (DoP&PW). The association, in its letter, highlighted serious confusion and apprehension regarding whether the 8th Pay Commission would also recommend a revision of their pension and family pension.
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Quoting the 8th CPC ToR, which were notified in November 2025, the REWA said that Point No. 2(e) of the ToR says that the Commission will ‘review the structure of death-cum-retirement gratuity and pension, including National Pension System (NPS)/Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) and outside NPS for the employees.’
The REWA said that the 8th CPC ToR only mentioned the pension of serving employees. “Nothing is clearly written about the revision of pension and family pension of ex-employees, i.e., pensioners who retired before January 1, 2026,” read the letter.
The REWA claimed previous pay commissions’ ToRs clearly mentioned provisions for pension and family pension revision. Citing the example of the 7th Pay Commission ToR, the REWA said that the terms of reference had clarity over pension revision.
“To examine, review, evolve, and recommend changes relating to pay, allowances, and retirement benefits, including pension structure and other retirement benefits, including revision of pre-retirement pension,” the REWA quoted the 7th Pay Commission ToR as saying.
The REWA claimed that in the terms of reference of the 6th and 5th Pay Commissions also, the words “pensioners” and “family pensioners” were explicitly mentioned.
Other pensioner organisations have also demanded 8 th CPC ToR amendment
The All India Defence Employees Federation (AIDEF), Postal Pensioners Association, Mail Motor Staff (MMS) and the Railway Mail Service (RMS), among other employee bodies, have also requested the government to amend the 8th CPC ToR and include pension and family pension terms in it.
Last month, their demand was also backed by the Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT). The DoPT, in a letter to the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, had referred the ToR amendment request of the AIDEF, MMS, and the RMS.
What is NC-JCM’s stand on the inclusion of pension and pension revision words in 8 th CPC ToR ?
In November 2025, the National Council-Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM), the main central government employee body in India, had also written a similar letter to the Prime Minister, requesting him to direct the Finance Ministry to include pension and pension revision words in the 8th CPC ToR.
Last month, Shiva Gopala Mishra, Secretary General of NC-JCM, said that pensioners could remain assured that pensions would continue regularly as improvements were being discussed with the 8th Pay Commission.
Employee and pensioner organisations, however, are not satisfied with verbal assurance and are seeking notified rules related to pension and family pension that can give legal sanctity to these matters.
