Left parties and trade unions said they would oppose the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill in Parliament as well as throughout the country.

The Bill was introduced in Parliament on Thursday after a division of votes, which showed as many as 115 members backing the proposed legislation, 43 opposing it and one member abstaining from voting. Only 159 members were present in the 543-member House.

In a ‘Meet the Press' session held in the Press Club of India here, the CPI (M) General Secretary, Mr Prakash Karat, said that the Left parties had always opposed the Bill's introduction, even when they were part of UPA-1. “We will intensify our protest against the move to link hard-earned pension savings of the people to the vagaries of the market”.

The AITUC General Secretary and CPI leader, Mr Gurudas Dasgupta, said his party would step up protest against the passage of the Bill and force the government to go back to the defined benefit system.

The Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), in a statement, also opposed the PFRDA Bill as well as the Labour Reform Amendment Bill. It accused the UPA Government and the major Opposition party, the BJP, of “surrendering to the pressure of international finance capital”.

The CITU said the labour reform Bill, proposing exemption from furnishing returns and maintaining registers by certain establishments, would exempt more than 80 per cent of existing establishments from complying with labour laws.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW