New Delhi. 20 years ago, the central government started the National Pension Scheme (NPS) by ending the old pension system. Since then, employees were opposing this scheme.
Last year, a guaranteed pension scheme Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) was started for employees in 2024, which was first implemented for central employees and now the state of Haryana has also announced to give its benefits to its employees.
The Haryana government has decided that about 2 lakh government employees in their state will be given the option to choose UPS. This decision has been taken in the Haryana Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naib Singh Saini, which will be effective from August 1, 2025. This means that the employees of the state will be able to choose the option of UPS after August 1 and their contribution made to NPS till now will be transferred to UPS.
This historic step will benefit more than two lakh state government employees appointed on or after January 1, 2006 with guaranteed pension under the scheme
.The objective of this scheme, which is being implemented on the recommendation of the state cabinet, is to ensure assured minimum pension and family pension to government employees. A state government employee who opts for the Integrated Pension Scheme will get 50 per cent of the average basic salary received during the 12 months before retirement as pension, provided the employee has completed 25 years of service.
The pension rule in UPS depends on the service period of the employees. If an employee retires after completing 10 or more years of service, he will get a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 10,000 per month. However, those who complete
25 years or more of service will be given 50 percent pension. In case of death of the pensioner, his family will get 60 percent of the last pension amount.
The benefit of dearness relief will be available
Dearness Relief (DR) will be applicable on both assured pension payment and family pension. Dearness relief will be calculated in the same way as dearness allowance (DA) applicable to serving employees. However, dearness relief will be payable only when pension payment starts. This means that not only the retired employee will get the benefit of dearness relief on pension, his family will also be given its benefit.
Lump sum money will also be given on retirement
At the time of retirement, the employee will also be allowed a lump sum payment, which will be 10 percent of the monthly emoluments (basic salary and DA) for every six months of his service. This means that whatever salary the employee gets in 6 months, 10 percent of it will be added for the lump sum amount. In this way, the amount will keep getting added on a half-yearly basis throughout the service period, which will be given to the employee as a lump sum at the time of retirement. This lump sum amount will not affect the assured pension payment.
How much burden on the state government
Under the current National Pension System (NPS), employees contribute 10 percent, while the state government contributes 14 percent. With the implementation of UPS, the state government’s contribution will increase to 18.5 percent. This means that the government will have to contribute 4.5 percent more than each employee’s share. In this way, the burden on the Haryana government treasury will increase by Rs 50 crore every month or Rs 600 crore annually.
