Pension Reforms For Central Government Employees? What You Can Expect

During the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) meeting held in March this year, pensioners' issues were discussed, and the government assured that it would address these concerns by providing frequently asked questions (FAQs) and revising the pension commutation recovery rule. SCOVA represents pensioners and raises their issues before the Department of Pensions for resolution. This was the 34th  meeting of SCOVA, which specifically raised pension-related issues such as the SPARSH Portal, one rank one pension (OROP), pension commutation restoration period, and delay in processing family pension, among others.

The National Council (Staff Side) Joint Consultative Machinery (NCJCM) has also been in discussion with the central government for pensioner welfare. In January of this year, NCJCM wrote to the Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman requesting to reduce the restoration period for the commuted pension from 15 years to 12 years. The JCM provides a common platform for both the official and staff sides of the government to discuss and address their issues and disputes and resolve them amicably.

Here are the main issues discussed in the meeting.

SPARSH Portal

The System for Pension Administration (RAKSHA) (SPARSH) initiative was launched in October 2020. The SPARSH portal aims to facilitate the sanction and payment of pensions for defense pensioners. Through this portal, pensioners can easily check their pension status and register complaints if necessary. Earlier, the pensioner had to visit their banks, and the process involved lots of paperwork, which is no longer required now. The portal has removed all such requirements; however, transitional issues still persist in some cases. After migrating pension accounts from banks to the SPARSH portal, pensioners, especially older ones, started facing difficulties in receiving pensions due to their incomplete records in the system.

• In this regard, the government asked the Ministry of Defence to issue FAQs on problems faced by pensioners and what they can do.

Other issues include the restoration of commuted pensions, payment of additional pensions, concerns regarding One Rank One Pension (OROP), etc.

OROP-Related Policy Issues:

• On the OROP-related policy issue, it was decided that the government would take up this issue separately with the Department of Expenditure.

Restoration Of Pension Commutation:

On the demands to reduce the restoration period from 15 years to 12 years for pension commutation, the SCOVA highlighted that the 5th Central Pay Commission and state government have recommended reducing the period to align with changing economic conditions. Besides, the lowering of interest rates by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) resulted in 'excess recovery'. Therefore, to ensure fairness in pension sanction, the period should be reduced.

• The issue was closed in the meeting as the Department of Expenditure informed that the issue may be included in the Terms of Reference (TOR) of the 8th pay commission.

Family Pension:

The pensioners' association demanded a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for family pensioners to make the process easy. Currently, due to numerous formalities to get a family pension granted to them, they face difficulties.

• In response to this, the Department of Pension & Pensioner's Welfare (DoPPW) said that it would issue instructions after consulting with the other stakeholders.

Other Important Issues

Fixed Medical Allowance:

The other issue was related to increasing the monthly fixed medical allowance to Rs 3,000 to align with the rising medical costs.

• To this, the Department of Expenditure again referred that it may be included in the TOR of the 8th pay commission.

Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) Issues:

The other issues related to CGHS included infrastructure development, more manpower at Wellness centres, adequate drug supply, and timely reimbursement of claims, among others.

• The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare was assigned the responsibility to take necessary action to resolve the issues.