8th Pay Commission update: Amid the controversy surrounding the Terms of Reference (ToR) for the 8th Pay Commission central government employees and pensioners have raised the long-standing demand to restore the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) as the majority of retirees and in-service employees have reportedly not switched to the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) even as the deadline for the same is now just a few days away. Will Centre restore Old Pension Scheme? According to reports most central government employees are yet to switch to the UPS even as the November 30 deadline is now less than two weeks away. This is a clear indication that employees are firmly behind their demand to roll back to the OPS and are reluctant to switch to any new framework under the National Pension System (NPS). Concerns have surged among employees and pensioners over pension revisions in the 8th Pay Commission fuelling the demand for the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme. According to employees bodies the ToR for the 8th CPC (8th Central Pay Commission) fails to meet the expectations of employees and pensioners with the biggest setback being the omission of OPS and lack of clarity on pension revision for existing pensioners. In the recent NC-JCM meeting it was unanimously decided that OPS must be explicitly added to the ToR for the 8th CPC. Why employees seek restoration of OPS? In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi the National Council (Staff Side) of the Joint Consultative Machinery (NC-JCM) representing central government employees has sought his intervention to amend the ToR for the 8th Pay Commission to include the restoration of the OPS. The letter also urged the Prime Minister to remove clause (f)(iii) that refers to “unfunded cost of non-contributory pension scheme from the ToR saying that it indirectly discourages OPS-type benefits. Apart from restoration of Old Pension Scheme (OPS) employees have also sought a comprehensive review of the NPS/UPS and asked the government to explicitly include pension revision in the ToR claiming it lacks clarity on matters like pension revision pension parity and pensioners’ rights. Several employees bodies have demanded the removal of the “unfunded cost” in the ToR claiming it is misleading and insulting to retirees while noting that pension is not a bounty but a constitutional right When will 8th Pay Commission be implemented? Earlier this month on November 3 Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union Cabinet approved the terms of reference (ToR) of the 8th Pay Commission which will benefit 50 lakh central government employees and 69 lakh pensioners and will have implications on the emoluments of the staff of state governments. If we go by the implementation of previous pay commissions the government usually takes about 18 to 24 months to implement the recommendations of the commission. Thus its unlikely that 8th Pay Commission would be implemented before mid-2027 while reports suggest that the next CPC implementation might be pushed back to early 2028.