SHIMLA: The State Cabinet in its first meeting presided over by the Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu held here today decided to provide Old Pension Scheme (OPS) that will benefit over 1.36 Lakh employees in Himachal Pradesh.
With this historic move, the Sukhu government is bound to trigger a chain reaction in States across India considering that the Lok Sabha Polls are as near as in 2024.
Rajasthan could be the next.
"Yashwant Sinha was Finance Minister with the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He enforced Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003", said Ramesh Negi, former Chief Secretary, Arunchal Pradesh.
New Pension Scheme of 2004 was a long term measure to curb fiscal deficit. Now the Govt will have to take hard decisions to avoid wasteful expenditure to make up for the OPS fallout, he added.
But then Sukhu will have to walk a tight rope.
"First fallout will be: He might have to abolish the vacant posts", Negi said.
If the Sukhu government does so, it will have to create extra avenues of employment in the private sector by roping in investment.
It is so because Congress has made commitment to over 15 lakh unemployed youth that the Congress government would create one lakh posts in the first year and would fulfill all 63000 government's vacant posts in Himachal Pradesh.
Sukhu asserted on social media that the government would issue notification today itself on OPS and will fulfill all 10 guarantees made to the people of Himachal.
But then the Cabinet decided to adopt Election Manifesto of Congress Party as Policy Document of the Government.
"We hope the employees will work with shoulder to shoulder with the Government for taking the state to higher level of development", he said.
Thus the Sukhu-led Congress government implemented OPS (Congress Guarantee(G)-1) in its very first Cabinet meeting here today.
Congress had promised 10 Election Guarantees for the people of the state for the recently concluded state assembly elections and it rode back to power in the state.
However, the the Cabinet did not share the exact mode of OPS and the financial burden that it would have on the fund-strapped state of Himachal Pradesh.
The OPS will be provided to all the Government employees who are presently covered under the defined contributory pension scheme also referred to as NPS. This will benefit to about 1.36 lakh NPS employees in the State.
The Cabinet unanimously passed a resolution thanking the people of Himachal Pradesh for reposing their faith and confidence in the policies and programs of Congress Party.
The Cabinet also expressed deep gratitude to the President All India Congress Committee Mallikarjun Kharge, senior Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi for their dynamic leadership that resulted in the spectacular victory of the Party in the recently concluded assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh.
The Cabinet asserted the will that all concerned Ministers, Secretaries and Heads of the Departments will implement the same in letter and spirit.
The Cabinet decided to constitute a Cabinet Sub Committee for finalizing the roadmap for implementation of the promises made by the Congress Party during the elections for creating one lakh employment opportunities in the State.
The Cabinet decided to constitute a Cabinet Sub Committee for finalizing the roadmap for implementation of the promises made by the Congress Party during the elections for granting Rs. 1500 to the women in the age group of 18 to 60 years.
Meanwhile, the OPS employees had staged massive protests in Shimla during the Vidan Sabha session held under the then Jai Ram Thakur-led BJP government in 2022.
BJP had accused the Congress of misleading the employees to get votes.
The BJP was voted out of power in the last state assembly elections as the Congress made OPS, among other things, as an issue.
The things are not as easy as it looks right now as Sukhu has a long way to go. Himachal is in a big Financial Mess and debt trap: It has to foot a hefty debt of over Rs 72,0000 Crore.
How Sukhu will manage this mess and create employment and generate extra sources of revenue to take the state ahead.
The state craft watchers are watching every step of Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu. Will the Modi-led Centre Cooperate with Him, only the time will tell.
