Pension woes: on EPFO member-pensioners. 

The Centre must bring in transparency in scrutiny of pension claims. 

The Standing Committee of Parliamentarians on Labour, Textiles and Skill Development, in its report on the 2025–26 demands for grants to the Union Ministry of Labour and Employment, has rightly reiterated the urgent need to revise the minimum monthly pension of ₹1,000 for member-pensioners under the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO). This amount, fixed in August 2014 under the Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS) of 1995, has remained unchanged for over a decade. Ironically, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government continues to take credit for the pension hike in 2014, though it merely implemented a decision announced earlier by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime. Back in 2014, when the UPA proposed the ₹1,000 minimum pension, the BJP, which was in the Opposition, criticised the move as insufficient. Its senior leader, Prakash Javadekar, called it a “ pittance ” and demanded a hike to at least ₹3,000.

At present, the government allocates an average of ₹980 crore annually for minimum pension payments. This figure needs to be tripled in order to make it a meaningful increase. Additionally, the Centre contributes 1.16% of wages (capped at a ₹15,000 monthly wage ceiling) towards the EPS corpus — an amount revised to ₹9,250 crore for 2024-25 and expected to cross ₹10,000 crore in 2025-26. The government’s argument is that it cannot afford a further financial burden, but feasible suggestions to manage the additional expenditure have been submitted to the Labour and Finance Ministries and the EPFO. Equally concerning is the EPFO’s handling of applications from those opting for pensions based on higher wages. Many applicants, now receiving demand notices requiring contributions amounting to several lakhs of rupees, have been left in the dark about their entitled pension amounts and arrears. In several cases, applicants have had to rely on their online accounts to track updates, as the EPFO has failed to issue any official communication. Instead of providing clarity, applicants are expected to calculate their expected pension through a portal-based calculator that comes with a disclaimer and no assurance of accuracy. The situation is worse for member-pensioners from exempted establishments, where authorities have summarily rejected applications for higher pension and even stopped previously sanctioned higher pensions without proper explanation. The Union government must initiate comprehensive stakeholder consultations, take steps to increase the monthly pension and ensure the fair treatment of all member-pensioners.