The opposition hit out on the authorities over the precise change to the interval for availing untimely remaining settlement of EPF from the present 2 months to 12 months and remaining pension withdrawal from 2 months to 36 months.
They additionally slammed the availability of earmarking 25% of the contributions within the members’ account as minimal stability to be maintained by the member always.
In a submit on X, Congress MP Manickam Tagore mentioned the Modi authorities’s new EPFO guidelines are nothing wanting “cruelty”.
“Pensioners and job-losers are being punished for needing their very own financial savings. Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji — that is the time to intervene and cease Mansukh Mandaviya from destroying folks’s lives,” Mr. Tagore mentioned.
“Under the brand new EPFO choices: You can withdraw PF solely after 12 months of unemployment (earlier 2 months). Pension will be withdrawn solely after 36 months (earlier 2 months). 25% of your individual EPF will likely be locked perpetually!” he claimed.
“Who advantages from this, Mr. Modi? Certainly not the employees. Imagine a employee who loses his job or a retiree ready for years to entry his hard-earned financial savings — whereas the federal government writes off lakhs of crores for its crony associates. This just isn’t reform, that is theft,” Mr. Tagore mentioned.
He claimed Mr. Mandaviya’s choices will end the lives of pensioners who rely upon EPF to outlive.
“Prime Minister, please intervene instantly. Don’t let bureaucratic cruelty destroy the dignity of India’s working class,” he mentioned.
TMC MP Saket Gokhale mentioned the brand new EPFO guidelines launched by the Modi authorities are “surprising and ridiculous”.
“It is open theft of salaried folks’s personal cash. Here’s what the brand new guidelines say: Earlier, on dropping your job, you can withdraw your EPF stability after 2 months of unemployment. That minimal interval has now shockingly been elevated to 1 12 months. Basically, for withdrawing your individual cash, you have to now be unemployed for a full 12 months versus solely 2 months,” Mr. Gokhale mentioned.
“You can withdraw the pension part of your EPF ONLY after 36 months (i.e. 3 years) of unemployment. Earlier, you can do it after two months. And that is the worst half: Of your EPF stability, 25% can’t be withdrawn and can stay locked in your whole profession till you retire,” he mentioned.
“Imagine if an individual will get laid off or loses their job. They nonetheless have payments and EMIs to pay. But the Modi authorities won’t mean you can withdraw your individual cash for a full 12 months. Even after a 12 months, you may solely withdraw 75% of your financial savings and that too provided that you’re nonetheless unemployed,” he mentioned.
Besides EPF has been made necessary which implies salaried individuals can’t escape this “draconian month-to-month theft” by the federal government of their very own revenue, he claimed.
“How is a standard middle-class individual anticipated to outlive like this,” he requested.
Mr. Gokhale additional requested how will a salaried one that loses their job meet their bills for a full 12 months when their EPF withdrawal is blocked?
“It is obvious that the Modi authorities is anticipating a drastic rise in unemployment on account of its horrible financial insurance policies. These new guidelines locking folks’s EPF are the indicators of a panicked authorities attempting to stop a run on the EPFO. Salaried persons are being punished for the Modi authorities’s mishandling of the financial system,” the TMC MP mentioned.
He urged Mr. Mandviya to scrap these new “draconian” EPF guidelines instantly.
Congress spokesperson Shama Mohamed additionally demanded a roll again of the principles.
“New EPFO guidelines launched by the Narendra Modi authorities within the identify of ‘simplification’ are nothing wanting looting the hard-earned cash of the salaried center class. 25% of the contributor’s quantity can’t be withdrawn and can stay locked till retirement. The interval for availing untimely remaining EPF pension withdrawal has been elevated to 36 months, up from 2 months earlier,” she mentioned.
“For any partial withdrawal, the ready interval has been prolonged to 1 12 months, as a substitute of two months earlier. The Modi authorities ought to instantly roll again these guidelines!” she mentioned on X.
Unemployed members of retirement fund physique EPFO will now be capable of avail remaining settlement or full withdrawal of funds from provident fund in addition to pension accounts after 12 months and 36 months of unemployment, respectively.
The determination to amend the scheme was taken by apex determination making physique of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), the Central Board of Trustees headed by Mr. Mandaviya, in a gathering held on Monday (October 13).
Presently, the scheme supplies for withdrawal of all funds from the provident fund in addition to pension account after two months of steady unemployment.
A senior official defined that the choice was taken to make sure social safety advantages to the formal sector employees within the nation who usually exit the ambit of the EPFO after two months of unemployment.
He defined that the majority of those unemployed youth are required to enrol once more with the EPFO once they get one other job or else they lose the possibility of getting pension and different advantages because the account turns into pensionable solely after mixed service of 10 years or extra.
Leave a Comment