Recipe for bankruptcy: Montek Ahluwalia on Old Pension Scheme
Montek Ahluwalia, the former deputy chairman of the now-scrapped planning commission, said the move by various state governments to enact the Old Pension Scheme is "absurd."
Former deputy chairman of the planning commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, said during an event on Friday that the reintroduction of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) by some state governments is a recipe for financial bankruptcy.
"I certainly share the view that this move is absurd and a recipe for financial bankruptcy," he said.
"The big advantage for those who push this move is that the bankruptcy would come 10 years later," he added.
Montek Ahluwalia is of the opinion that the system should prevent political parties or parties in power from adopting policies that could spell a financial disaster.
Meanwhile, BJP national spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi shared the clip of Montek Ahluwalia and said Congress should brainstorm what they are doing with the future of the country for immediate political gains.
"[They should] listen to their own people rather than spewing venom against Prime Minister Narendra Modi," he said in a tweet.
The OPS was discontinued on April 1, 2004, and replaced with the National Pension Scheme (NPS). In the OPS, the pension was 50 per cent of the last drawn salary of the government employee. On the other hand, the NPS is a contributory pension scheme.
So far, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)-led governments in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, and Rajasthan and the AAP government in Punjab have gone back to OPS.
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