The Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) will stage dharna outside offices of Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) across India today demanding hiking of the minimum pension from ₹1000 to ₹5000 per month.
“BMS demands pension should be 50% of last drawn wages for all workers. Chalo pf office on 20th January 2022,” Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh tweeted.
According to BMS, the pension under the EPS-95 scheme of the EPFO is becoming a big issue in the organized sector involving nearly 65 lakh pensioners.
“During the Covid-19 days also those who have worked lifelong got only a paltry amount of minimum pension of ₹1,000, which is less than a destitute pension. Hence, the minimum pension under EPS, 1995, should be hiked to ₹5,000 per month from the existing ₹1,000 per month,” BMS said in a release.
It has urged that any hike in pension should benefit all 65 lakh pensioners as in the past when the minimum pension was enhanced to ₹1,000 per month, it benefitted only 14 lakh pensioners out of nearly 44 lakh eligible pensioners at that time.
"Since in-principle acceptance was given by the labour ministry, EPS pensioners should be covered under Ayushman Bharat medical scheme as these old age pensioners with a low pension were unable to get treatment at super speciality hospitals," it further said.
“The government should formulate a universal pension scheme so that pension should be 50% of last drawn salary,” BMS said.
The BMS said these were raised earlier at the pre-budget consultation meeting of the finance minister with the central trade union on December 18, 2021,in New Delhi in the presence of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
