Kolkata: If you are a central government employee, you have to choose whether you want to continue with NPS (National Pension System) or want to switch to UPS (Unified Pension Scheme). This is obviously a crucial question for all government employees. The UPS was launched from the first day the current financial year ie April 1. The UPS was announced on January 24 this year. The UPS has a provision for a guaranteed monthly pension.
On June 23, the government announced that one could indicate his/her choice till September 30. This will benefit current employees, retirees and legally wedded spouses of deceased retirees. The earlier deadline was June 30. UPS has a few features that could appeal to a number of employees.
Significantly, an employee become eligible for UPS only after he/she has served the government for 25 years. The highlights of this scheme are a minimum pension, which is Rs 10,000. But the real attraction is that there will be guaranteed pension that will be 50 per cent of the average basic salary of the employee of the 12 months preceding separation.
The first and obvious question on the issue of switching from NPS to UPS is who is eligible. The following categories of government employees can decide to migrate from NPS to UPS — one, serving central government employees who were working on April 1, 2025 and two, Central government employees who retired on or before March 31, 2025. However there were a couple of conditions: they have provided service for a minimum of 10 years. And they have retired under Fundamental Rules 56(j) (not treated as a penalty under the Central Civil Services (Classification, Control and Appeal) Rules, 1965) on or before March 31, 2025. Also legally wedded spouse of a deceased subscriber eligible under UPS can make the choice.
A significant point to note is that state governments, too, are free to implement the UPS. Maharashtra is the first state to implement the UPS.
“In view of representations received from stakeholders requesting an extension of the cut-off date, the Government of India has decided to extend the cut-off date for exercising the option for UPS by three months, i.e., up to 30 September 2025 for eligible existing employees, past retirees, and the legally wedded spouses of deceased past retirees,” a statement of the government said.
