Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
A human chain protest programme was organised by the All India Postal and RMS Pensioners Association (AIPRPA), Mumbai on 18th and 25th July to condemn the Revised Pension Bill, passed in parliament on 25th March 2025. The bill divides the Pensioners in two groups. It suggests that the ensuing 8th Pay Commission will not be applicable to the old pensioners, but only to the 2026 retirees.
In this way the Government is trying to bring arbitrariness to the present pension system and is trying to change the agreed upon system so that they can change the pension amount and other agreed upon rules.
Already there are different pension schemes for different pensioners. The pensioners prior to 1.4.2004 have old pension scheme and for pensioners after that the t NPS is applicable. The same was revised with some more benefits and named as Unified Pension Scheme (UPS).
In order to demand the justice for the livelihood of all pensioners, a huge human chain programme was arranged by the National Coordination Committee of Pensioners Associations (NCCPA), a pensioners’ organisation of all Central Government pensioners of BSNL, Railway, Atomic Energy Commission and other sectors. Long Human chains were joined by people in hundreds in many parts of the country.
In Mumbai the postal employees, both men and women, in spite of heavy rain, gathered at Dadar East Head Post office. Shri Mangesh Parab, the State Secretary of AIPRPA and Shri Sharad Pawar, Secretary Mumbai, Shri D.K. Rahate, Convenor of AIPRPA and others headed the human chain protest.
For many lakhs of pensioners pension has become a burning issue in their day-to-day life. For them the question is whether they will get pension in future or not. So, government pensioners will have to wage more fights to achieve their goal of decent living in future.
Kamgar Ekta Committee extends its full support to all pensioners in their fight for pension for a decent retired life. After having contributed all their life in service of the government, they have a right to decent pension. KEC believes that all working men and women should be taken care of in their old age by the government funded social security system.