The EPS-95 National Agitation Committee has given the labor ministry 15 days’ notice to raise the minimum monthly pension from the current Rs 1,000 to Rs 7,500 and has threatened a nationwide uproar if the request is not met.
The retirement fund body EPFO manages the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95), which has over 75 million pensioner beneficiaries and more than six crore subscribers.
The committee stated in a letter sent to Union Labour Minister Bhupender Yadav on Monday that the extremely low pension amount and the absence of medical facilities are contributing to an increase in the number of EPS-95 pensioners who pass away.
If the minimum pension is not increased within 15 days, it threatened a nationwide agitation that would include blocking rails and roadways and a collective fast to death.
The committee has requested an increase in the minimum pension from Rs 1,000 to Rs 7,500 and the declaration of a Dearness Allowance on a regular basis.
In addition, it has requested a pension based on actual salary in accordance with the verdicts of the Supreme Court dated October 4, 2016 and November 4, 2022.
In November, the Supreme Court ordered the government to offer higher-paying employees the option of contributing to the EPS-95 plan. The current monthly salary threshold for pensionability is Rs 15,000.
The board of trustees additionally requested the inclusion of EPS-95 to be reached out to any remaining resigned workers who have not been remembered for the plan, by making them ex post facto individuals.
It claimed that the Koshiyari Committee’s 2012-2013 recommendations were the basis for the increase in the minimum pension.
