Unified Pension Scheme Benefits: Maharashtra has become the first state in India to offer UPS i.e. Unified Pension Scheme. The central government has announced this new scheme on Saturday. Under this, employees who joined service after the year 2004 will get pension of about 50 percent of their last salary. The special thing is that this decision has been implemented in Maharashtra at a time when only a few months are left for the assembly elections in the state.
Within just 24 hours of the approval of UPS by the Union Cabinet, it has started being offered in Maharashtra. Meanwhile, many central employees’ organizations are also demanding its implementation in the states. There is a Shiv Sena-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government in Maharashtra. There are chances of lakhs of employees getting benefited from this scheme when it is implemented across the country.
What is UPS and when will it be implemented
The proposal was approved in the Union Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday. Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnav said that the employee in UPS will get pension equal to 50 percent of the average salary of the last year after 25 years of service. The Integrated Pension Scheme will come into effect from April 1, 2025.
The employees’ contribution for UPS has been kept at the same level as the existing NPS system of 10 percent, while the government has decided to increase its contribution from 14 percent to 18.5 percent. This pension scheme also provides for family pension, guaranteed minimum pension and lump sum payment after retirement.
He said that by implementing UPS, the government will have to spend about 800 crore rupees in the current financial year as arrears, while about 6250 crore rupees will be spent on UPS. Vaishnav said that more than 30 lakh employees of the central government will benefit from this and if the state governments implement UPS, then a total of 90 lakh employees will be able to benefit from it.
(With agency input)