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The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata party showed rare unity in the Rajya Sabha to pass the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) Bill.
On the other side, 25 members belonging to the Left parties, their bete noire Trinamool Congress and the AIADMK joined hands to oppose the Bill, saying it was a betrayal of workers.
Replying to a three-hour debate, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the current system of pensions was unsustainable. Terming unfunded pension as dangerous, he said the Government wanted employees to save as they earned. He told the House that the savings of workers would be handed over to professional fund managers.
Maintaining that no law was immutable, he said the aim of the Bill was to convert a non-statutory pension fund authority to an accountable system. He said the Centre has accepted all but one of the recommendations of the Standing Committee on the Bill.
The Bill was in cold storage for about 10 years as the Left parties objected to it during the first tenure of the United Progressive Alliance. The Bill was blocked during UPA-II following the objections by the Trinamool Congress.
Now, since both the Left and the Trinamool Congress no longer support the Centre, the Congress decided to seek the BJP’s help to pass the legislation.
BJP MP Piyush Goyal criticised the Centre for delaying the Bill, which was first moved by the erstwhile NDA Government. He said a minimum pension of at least Rs 5,000 should be assured to all those who join the new pension scheme. He urged the Centre to encourage unorganised workers to join the scheme. He said there should be no FDI in managing pension funds.
“FDI in pension is immaterial. We are capable of managing the pension. Let it remain in 26 per cent,” he said.
The CPI(M) had moved about a dozen amendments to the Bill. All of them were defeated. Party MP Tapan Sen said the Government was trying to snatch away pension from workers, which was their right.
He said fund managers abroad were going through a tough phase and none of them would come to India as they failed even in their own countries. “Please spare the workers,” Sen said.
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