A popular English daily reported on the
28th of last month that the Central Government is giving serious
thoughts about reducing the retirement age of its employees. The news
has created a big buzz among the employees working under Central
Government.
It was said that the proposal is part of
the Government’s strategy to reduce non-plan expenses. It was mentioned
that a senior official said that the move will help giving employment
opportunities to new people under the new recommendations to be
suggested by the 7th Pay Commission.
In 1998, the Vajpayee Government raised
the retirement age for Central Government employees from 58 to 60. The
subsequent UPA government proposed plans to raise it further from 60 to
62, but the plans were then dropped. The retirement age was raised from
55 to 58 in 1962.
The article said that BJP’s manifesto,
which had promised to rationalise and converge ministries, departments
and other arms of the government, could implement such tough reforms.
But, our investigations and enquiries say that the Government has no
such plans. We aren’t aware of a debate that was held in any office,
including the PMO, over this issue.
Recently, the State Govrenment of
Haryana reduced the retirement age of its employees. The news had
probably started because they thought the Centre might implement similar
policy.
It is worth mentioning that none of the
employee associations and federations raised a voice or expressed an
opinion about this issue.
We hope that the Prime Minister is aware
of the responsibilities and financial commitments of a Central
Government employee who has an average service period of 30 years.
