After succumbing to a long-standing demand, more than 25 years in the making, of government employees and teachers, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Saturday declared the introduction of a new scheme, the Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme (TNAPS). The scheme seeks to recover the advantages of Old Pension scheme (OPS), and at the same time provides a financial stability to the retired workers.
The government employees under the new scheme will have a guaranteed pension of half of their final drawn salary. Chief Minister Stalin stated that the state government would take up the full increment to the financial load needed to sustain the pension fund, on top of the 10 per cent an employee contribution. The scheme will also provide hikes in Dearness Allowance (DA) to pensioners after every six months, as is the case with serving government employees.
There are also good family security provisions in the scheme. Family Pension- 60 per cent of the pension amount will be given as family pension to the nominated beneficiary in case of the demise of the pensioner. Also in case an employee dies during service or during retirement, a lump sum up to 25 lakh will be given depending on the number of years of service.
The Chief Minister Stalin also declared that those employees who retires after execution of TN Assured Pension Scheme but do not have adequate qualifying service (minimum of years of service) are still entitled to receive a minimum guaranteed pension. To employees who entered into government employment under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) and then who have retired prior to the launch of TNAPS, the government will give them Special Compassionate Pension.
The economic value of the scheme is high. The government of Tamil Nadu will then have to set aside another 13,000 crore in the Pension Fund to finance the scheme. Further, the state allocation to the application of TNAPS annually is approximated to be 11,000 crore.
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