By Shri GL Jogi, General Secretary, Sanchar Nigam Pensioners Welfare Association (SNPWA)
The Finance Bill, 2025, introduced in the name of fiscal consolidation, will go down in history as a brazen and unconscionable assault on the dignity, rights, and security of India’s pensioners. It seeks to rob nearly one crore civil pensioners — the very backbone of India’s administrative, scientific, defence, and public service legacy — of their hard-earned, hard-fought, and Constitutionally protected entitlements.
What the government attempted through this bill is nothing short of legislative treachery. The provisions are not just regressive — they are draconian, discriminatory, and blatantly unconstitutional. Among the most dangerous features of the Finance Bill, 2025:
- It gives the government absolute authority to arbitrarily determine the mode, manner, and quantum of pension, overriding long-standing judicial precedents and statutory safeguards.
- It grants power to discriminate between pensioners based solely on their date of retirement, thus potentially denying future CPC (Central Pay Commission) benefits to older retirees — a direct assault on the principle of equal treatment upheld by the Supreme Court.
- Most shockingly, it seeks to retrospectively apply these provisions from 01/06/1972 — a move clearly designed to nullify the landmark D. S. Nakara judgment (1983) and subsequent Supreme Court rulings that strengthened the concept of pension as a deferred wage and a right, not charity.
Enough Is Enough!
For decades, pensioners’ associations fought their battles in silos, often divided by ideology, sector, and personality. But this bill has done what decades of dialogue could not — it has unified us all.
Under the dynamic initiative of the Forum of Civil Pensioners’ Associations , various pensioners’ bodies — many once at odds — have come together, burying egos, shedding differences, and speaking with one collective voice of resistance and resolve.
The nation witnessed something historic on 25th July 2025 , when lakhs of pensioners — many in their eighties and nineties, some in wheelchairs, some supported by walking sticks — stepped out into the scorching sun, pouring rain, and biting wind to form a Human Chain of Protest that stretched across cities and towns.
We saw frailty giving way to strength. We saw silence giving way to slogans. We saw despair turning into determination.
Voices that were once subdued rose in unison:
Withdraw the Bill! Uphold Our Rights! Respect Our Legacy!
It was not just a protest — it was a Pledge for Justice.
A Legal and Democratic Battle Ahead
The government, true to its recent pattern, may pretend not to listen. But we are here to remind them that pensioners are not a forgotten class, nor are we voiceless . We are nearly one crore strong, and we vote. Our families vote. And we shall remember.
Let the government hear this loud and clear:
We will challenge this unconstitutional bill in the courts of law .
We will intensify our democratic protests — on streets, in social forums, and through media.
We will expose this betrayal to every citizen, for this is not just a pensioners’ issue — it is an attack on justice, equality, and the rule of law.
We are not seeking favours. We are demanding what is rightfully ours.
We built this nation. We defended its borders. We ran its railways, its posts, its telecom, its hospitals, and its classrooms. We were the hands and the minds that built modern India. And we refuse to be thrown to the margins now.
Final Word: Let the Nation Know
This is not just about pension.
This is about dignity. Legacy. Justic. Unity. Democracy.
We, the pensioners of India, stand as one.
And we say to the government: Withdraw this unjust bill — or face the unrelenting wrath of unity, legality, and democracy.
Jai Hind!
Jai Pensioners’ Unity!
Down with Injustice!