Retirement From Govt Service Does Not Mean You Are Retired As A Citizen: Jitendra Singh

During a Pre-Retirement Counseling (PRC) Workshop and the Bankers’ Awareness Program in Guwahati on April 10, 2025, Jitendra Singh, the Union Minister of the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW), who also holds other portfolios, stated, “Retirement from government service doesn’t mean you are retired as a citizen”.

The DoPPW conducts pre-retirement workshops throughout the year across various departments. The goal is to make the transition easy for superannuating employees by providing information on pension-related matters and an online portal for pensioners.

In government jobs, retirement is tied to the age of the employee. Thus, even if the retiree is physically and mentally fit, they go out of the active workforce.

However, their experience can still be utilized for productive use. The minister referred to this point in his address, saying that many officers retiring at 60 are energetic with a good amount of experience. He stated, “So we wish to involve them in the task of nation-building and use their experiences. As the Prime Minister says, every citizen has to contribute to the making of Viksit Bharat”.

The minister expressed his belief that retirement is not an end, but a transition where individuals can still contribute to nation-building in new ways.

As the elderly population is growing in India, it is imperative to take care of their needs and make policies accordingly. In the case of retiring individuals, a timely starting of pension after retirement used to be a huge concern. Retirees had to run from one to the other office to get their paperwork done and the pension to get initiated, which would take months.

To address this issue, the government has implemented initiatives such as pre-retirement counselling, digital pension payment orders, and an online portal for updates. The process has become much easier now. As the minister stated, “That era is over”.

He said, “Today, with digital PPOs, integrated pension portals like Bhavishya, and face authentication tools, we’ve eliminated procedural delays and harassment.”

Retiree Engagement In Advisory Roles:

The minister also emphasized utilising retirees’ expertise and interests in port-retirement for a larger benefit. “We will prepare a performa to capture details like qualification, experience, and preferred areas of work so that ministries can consult it and engage retirees in policy committees or advisory roles”, he said.  

Researches show that individuals who receive pensions are less likely to engage in active work after retirement. However, many retirees want to continue working not just for financial reasons but to remain productively engaged.

He also highlighted the other reforms implemented to improve the lives of pensioners and their families, such as changes in pension rules inclusion of divorced daughters, and faster pension processing for widows among others.  

Don’t Be The Passive Recipients Of Pension, Be The Active Nation-Builder:

He even urged the retirees to not become passive recipients of pensions, but instead engage actively in nation-building and contribute to making the country a developed nation by 2047.