CHENNAI: The government announced on Tuesday that it has formed a three-member committee to recommend a feasible pension scheme for Tamil Nadu, considering both the demands of government employees and the state’s financial situation.
The committee will conduct a detailed study of the old pension scheme, which was in force until 2003, the current Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS), and the recently notified Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) of the union government. It will submit its report and recommendations within nine months, according to an official release.
The committee comprises Gagandeep Singh Bedi, Additional Chief Secretary (Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Department); K R Shanmugam, former Director of the Madras School of Economics; and Pratik Tayal, Deputy Secretary (Budget) in the Finance Department, who will serve as the committee’s member-secretary.
The release stated that while the union government introduced the National Pension Scheme (NPS) on January 1, 2004, the Tamil Nadu government continued with the CPS, which it had implemented on April 1, 2003. Since then, government employees have consistently demanded the scrapping of CPS and a return to the old pension scheme.
After the DMK came to power in 2021, employees have repeatedly urged the ruling party to fulfil its electoral promise of restoring the old pension scheme.
Last month, Finance Minister Thangam Thennarasu announced in the Assembly that the government would form a committee to study the UPS and provide recommendations. Employees’ associations criticised this as a delaying tactic, and with only a year left until the 2026 Assembly election, the committee’s nine-month timeline is expected to face further opposition.