Gujarat: Thousands Join 'Mass Casual Leave' Protest, Demands Govt To Reinstate Old Pension Scheme

Thousands of government employees in Gujarat joined the 'mass casual leave' protest across the state, demanding the government reintroduce the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). OPS was discontinued by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in December 2003. As a substitute for the discontinued pension scheme, the government launched the National Pension System (NPS), which took effect in April 2004.

While both the schemes ensure a provision for pension distribution, the OPS is a more pension-oriented scheme, and the NPS is an investment cum pension scheme. Under the NPS, an amount of income is invested in the market to generate more returns.

However, the returns are not guaranteed as it depends on the performance of the asset allocation and runs on their risk-taking capability during the employment tenure. Meanwhile, the OPS assures a fixed monthly income to the employees post-retirement and comes with several other benefits.

Expressing their disapproval over the scheme, many government employees took mass leaves and approached the government to reinstate OPS. On September 16, the state government announced that those employees who joined the service before April 2006 would be able to avail the benefits of the General Provident Fund and OPS.

Meetings And Mass Leave Stirs

The mass leave stirs were called off temporarily after the union bodies had met with the government. Five ministers of the BJP government discussed the provisions with the presidents of Samyukt Karmachari Morcha and Rashtriya Samyukt Morcha and accepted a majority of their demands except for the reintroduction of OPS. Stating that the demands had been met, the umbrella union bodies called off the stir.

However, the district-level unions claimed that their main demand for reinstating OPS had not yet been met and took several mass leaves on September 17 as well. Convenor of Rashtriya Samyukt Morcha, Saurashtra region, Mahesh Mori, said, "Our main demand was OPS, and this issue was not resolved by the state government on Friday. This issue affects each and every employee of the state, and hence, they have decided to join the mass CL stir today," reported the New Indian Express.

Nearly 7,000 government teachers took leave on September 17th in Bhavnagar district, and about 8,000 government teachers did not go to work from the Kutch district. In Gandhinagar, several employees had taken out a rally in the Old Sachivalaya campus apart from taking casual leaves from work. These numbers indicate just the school teachers, and the actual numbers from across the state extend beyond it with several employees, from the panchayat health workers to revenue employees.

Few protesting employees were of the opinion that "The government has agreed to give OPS only to employees who have joined service before 2005, while most of us have joined after 2005." As their main demand to reintroduce OPS stands, the employees continue their mass CL stir.

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