Cong leader hails Centre's Unified Pension Scheme

New Delhi : While Congress and BJP, the two biggest national parties remain at loggerheads over the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and Old Pension Scheme (OPS), the newly launched Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) has found support from a leading Congress office-bearer Praveen Chakravarty.

Praveen Chakravarty, who heads the All India Professionals’ Congress (AIPC), took to microblogging site X, expressed support for the UPS scheme and termed it as a ‘prudent and welcome’ move.

Congress leader, who batted for reforms in pension schemes earlier also, looks convinced with the latest scheme. He also sought to explain how the UPS excels the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and has even gone a step ahead in ending the ‘lacuna and loophole’ that existed in it.

“OPS was reformed to NPS in 2013. However, NPS did not assure a minimum amount for retired families. Now, UPS does that … UPS = NPS + Min guarantee,” wrote the Cong leader, who also heads the party’s Data Analytics department.

The Joint Consultative Machinery (JCM), the body representing Central government employees lauded the newly launched UPS and also shed light on how it was better than the previous pension schemes including OPS and NPS.

JCM Secretary (staff side) Shiva Gopal Mishra explained how the latest pension scheme bettered its previous counterparts and how the UPS came into effect with the active participation of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) is contributory, however, the old one was non-contributory," he said.