OPS: Govt has given a written response about the OPS; what did it say about the employees’ demands?

OPS : The government has announced that it has no intention of bringing back the previous pension scheme. The clarification from the Finance Ministry comes as various associations representing central government employees have been advocating for the return of the old pension scheme.

The Finance Ministry has confirmed that there are no plans to restore the old pension scheme for central government employees who are part of the National Pension System (NPS) and Unified Pension Scheme (UBS).

Many Members of Parliament had requested information from the government.

Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Choudhary informed the Lok Sabha in a written response on December 15, 2025, “There is no intention to revive the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for central government employees under the NPS and UPS.” Several MPs, such as Anto Antony, Amra Ram, Utkarsh Verma Madhur, and Imran Masoon, had inquired about the government’s position on this matter.

Numerous associations of central government employees have called for the reinstatement of the Old Pension Scheme. This scheme was a non-contributory assured pension plan established under the Central Civil Services Pension Rules, 1972 (now updated to 2021). Employees were not required to contribute anything under this scheme. In contrast, the NPS and UPS are contributory pension schemes, meaning employees must contribute 10% of their basic salary and dearness allowance to both plans.

OPS is a non-contributory pension scheme

In the NPS framework, the government contributes 14% of the employee’s basic pay and DA. In UPS, the government contributes 10% of the basic pay and DA. Apart from this, the government contributes another 8.5% of the total corpus of the employees in the scheme. MPs had also asked in the Lok Sabha whether state governments have implemented OPS for their employees. In response, Chaudhary said that the governments of Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh have informed PFRDA about their decision to introduce UPS for their employees.

The government launched the NPS in 2004 for central government employees. It replaced the Old Pension Scheme. Later, in 2009, the government opened the NPS to the general public. It is a market-linked pension scheme.