Maharashtra state employees protest for higher pension benefits

• Haryana and Nagaland began demanding greater pensions.
• Employees are advocating for the reinstatement of a pension scheme.
• Over 1.7 million employees have been on strike in Mumbai.

Hundreds of state employees protested in the western Indian state of Maharashtra on Friday, joining workers in other states who are demanding higher pension benefits.

Following the increase in pension benefits in opposition-controlled states, government employees in other states, particularly those ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s party, such as Haryana and Nagaland, began demanding greater pensions.

Employees are advocating for the reinstatement of a pension scheme that was suspended nearly two decades ago.

In 2004, the federal government and the majority of states repealed a program that provided employees with a state-funded life-long pension equal to nearly half of their pay. It was replaced with a program funded by employee and government payments.

Over 1.7 million employees have been on strike in Mumbai, the state capital, and other cities since Tuesday, according to union leaders, who have rejected a government invitation to convene a panel to address workers’ requests.

“The perils of the new pension scheme are visible,” Vishwas Katakar, organizer of a committee of 35 protesting unions, told sources, adding employees faced a bleak future without adequate pension benefits.

According to him, the new pension program, which invests in stocks and state bonds, offered an employee with a monthly pension of 2,000-5,000 rupees ($24-$60), which was less than a fourth of the benefits under the old scheme.

The state finance minister, Devendra Fadnavis, told MPs earlier this month that the existing pension program was no longer viable due to fiscal limitations.

Experts believe that demand for increased pension benefits will be a major electoral issue in the next state assembly and general elections next year

“This is a genuine demand of employees. The federal government should find a way within fiscal constraints,” said N.R. Bhanumurthy, an economist and the vice chancellor at B.R. Ambedkar School of Economics University, Bengaluru.

On Friday, the government of Himachal Pradesh, a northern Himalayan state where the main opposition Congress party took power from Modi’s party earlier in December, reinstated the old pension program for state employees.

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