Presenting a populist budget ahead of the 2023 State Assembly election, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Wednesday announced restoration of the old pension scheme for the government employees who joined the service on or after January 1, 2004. No new taxes were levied in the budget in view of the pandemic’s impact on all sectors of economic activities.
Mr. Gehlot said the National Pension Scheme (NPS), introduced in 2004, had led to apprehensions among the employees about their security in old age. “Bringing back the old scheme is a historic decision. The then Union government might have brought the NPS for some strong reasons, but we need to consider it again,” he said.
Mr. Gehlot, who also holds the finance portfolio, told reporters after presenting the budget that other States should also think on the NPS in a new perspective. The contribution-based NPS is a major issue in the ongoing Assembly elections in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, where the ruling BJP has been caught in a difficult situation after the Samajawadi Party and other Opposition ensembles made promises on retirement benefits.
