“The cabinet has stayed the order of increasing the pension of the state public sector unit employees to 60. It will decide on the future measures later.”
“The cabinet has stayed the order of increasing the pension of the state public sector unit employees to 60. It will decide on the future measures later.”
The Kerala cabinet on Wednesday put a stay on the controversial order of the Finance Department that raised the retirement age in public sector government units to 60 years.
strong political headwinds and Strong opposition from youth organizations of the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) Asked the government to cancel this move.
A brief statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office said: “The cabinet has stayed the order of increasing the pension of state public sector unit employees to 60. It will decide the future measures later”.
Leader of the Opposition VD Satheesan described the cabinet’s decision as a half-measure to keep it out of the public eye.
He said that the government should naturally quash the erroneous order completely instead of putting the anti-youth decision in cold storage.
Opposition’s victory: Satisan
Still, Mr. Satisan said, the government’s sudden and dramatic reversal of its stated position was an unquestionable victory for the opposition.
Mr Satheshan also pointed to an alleged dichotomy between the DYFI movement against unemployment in New Delhi and the Left youth organization’s tacit response to the Kerala government’s order, which in one fell swoop reduced the chances of millions of educated youth getting government jobs. done.
“DYFI national president R Rahim, MP, instead of agitating in New Delhi should ask the Kerala chief minister about the promised jobs”, he said.
The recent order by the Finance Department to regularize the pay structure to raise the age of retirement to 60 uniformly in PSUs had landed the LDF government in jeopardy.
The contentious order was informed by the recommendations made by an expert committee headed by the chairman of the Reorganization and Internal Audit Board (RIAB).
Notably, the increase in retirement age did not apply to Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB), Kerala Water Authority (KWA), and Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC).
The CPI-affiliated youth organisation, AIYF, said the government found itself on the backfoot, with the order dashing the hopes of unemployed youth and violating the LDF’s election manifesto. Soon the DYFI and the BJP’s Yuva Morcha expressed a similar view.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) opposition said the finance department had arbitrarily implemented the order without considering the social realities of Kerala and without political consensus.
For one, Kerala had the highest unemployment rate in the country. In addition, the government was the largest employer in the state. The government had raised the retirement age to 60 and the government had cunningly banned recruitment.
The UDF alleged that the ghost of adequate pension and gratuity payments from the dwindling state exchequer has forced the government to sacrifice youth welfare at the altar of financial gains.
The Congress and the BJP had warned the LDF administration to prepare itself for anti-government protests if it did not withdraw the order.