Day 3 of protest: ‘No one from government has reached us yet’

Arunima Purohit | NT

Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Government NPS Employee Association’s protest has reached day three. The government workers have begun an indefinite protest at Freedom Park, demanding the abolition of the National Pension Scheme (NPS).

Krishnaprabha, a government teacher from Belagavi district, said, “I have come here with my husband and children to participate in the protest and ask for our rights from the government. The situation is terrible here. We have to spend our nights with people we don’t know. We all hope the CM of Karnataka (Basavaraj Bommai) will listen to us because we will not return until the CM accepts our demands.”

The NPS was introduced in order for the central government to get rid of pension liabilities. Under this scheme, a maximum of 60 percent of the accumulated corpus in the Tier-I account is given to the individual as a lump sum. An individual must invest at least 40 percent of the accrued pension corpus in Tier-I to purchase an annuity from an Annuity Service Provider, which should be an insurance company registered with PFRDA and regulated by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).

Sashikala N K, a primary school teacher and the state secretary of the Karnataka State Government NPS Employee Association, said, “As of 31 March 2006 in Karnataka, whoever is appointed is not going to contribute even a single rupee from their salary, but still if they expire or retire, the government is assuring them a fixed pension amount which is half of their salary. We don’t have that. In our case, we have to pay 40 percen of our salary to PFRDA as an annuity. We have served the government for 30- 35 years, so they must take responsibility.”

“Yes, we are ready to contribute to the government from our salary, but in return, all we want is a fixed amount of pension money,” she added. Moreover, according to Sashikala, before the commencement of the protest, the association had informed the government regarding the issue along with the required proof and documents.

However, the government did not pay heed to their concerns. The protestors are from all over the state and belong to different departments. “No one from the government has reached us yet, but only opposition members came here and gave a speech. So many MLAs are discussing in this session as well.

Yesterday, the retired Chief Justice of Karnataka, Gopal Gowda, joined our protest. He was concerned about the government employees of Karnataka,” said Satish P M. However, there are no signs of the CM yet.

Kavitha, a resident of Bengaluru and a member of the State Committee of the NPSEA, said, “I am from Bengaluru, and I am staying here. The weather here is freezing at night and difficult for us, but we have come with all the preparations. Approximately 500 people are staying overnight with us. We all hope that the government will remove the NPS as it is not mandatory in all states of India. It was an open option for the states. West Bengal is still out of this PFRDA.”