Report by Kamgar Ekta Committee (KEC) correspondent
Union Finance Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman issued a statement today, 24 March 2023, that a committee will be constituted under the chairmanship of the Finance Secretary on the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and that the committee will give its suggestions.
It is a common tactic of governments to announce the formation of a committee to look into the demands whenever an agitation becomes intense and widespread. The purpose is to douse the anger and send agitators home.
The terms of reference and members of the committee are so decided by the government that its recommendations are in line with what government wants.
We recently saw that after a yearlong agitation of farmers, the central government announced the formation of a committee on the key demand of farmers of the implementation of Minimum Support Prices (MSP). Most of its members are those who oppose the implementation of MSP. The government asked farmers to nominate their representatives to the committee but farmers’ organisations decided to boycott the committee, realising that it is a partisan committee.
The same tactic has been used innumerable times to make workers withdraw their strikes.
The committee announced by the finance minister is about NPS and not even about the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Employees fighting for the restoration of the OPS all over the country must not be taken in by the announcement of the Finance Minister. Only their continued united struggle will ensure that they get their rightful pension after retirement.