Jaipur5 hours agoAuthor: Upendra Sharma
The issue of giving old pension scheme to government employees has finally forced even BJP to think. The BJP government in Karnataka has formed a committee to study OPS. This committee will come to Rajasthan this month.
Elections are to be held in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh five-six months after the elections to be held in Karnataka two months later.
In such a situation, it seems that BJP will soon clarify its stand on OPS in these states also. If this happens, then the old pension scheme will become a big issue in the Lok Sabha elections to be held after 13 months.
CM Gehlot had talked to the employee organizations just before the Budget-2022 and Budget-2023. Gehlot has also announced to implement OPS for the employees of various boards and commissions.
In March-2022, CM Ashok Gehlot implemented the old pension scheme in Rajasthan. Gehlot has been challenging the BJP many times, saying that if not today then tomorrow, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will have to implement OPS in BJP’s state governments and at the Center as well.
Various experts including the country’s Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman have termed OPS as fatal for the economy. Now when the elections are near, even the BJP is not able to keep this issue untouched.
Karnataka CM B. Bommai has constituted a high level committee to study OPS in the state.
Rajasthan BJP spokesperson Ashish Chaturvedi said that till now the party has not taken any thought on OPS in the state, but the party does consider various political topics when the time comes. Elections are about to be held in Karnataka, so the government there has taken a decision according to the need.
Committee will meet three IAS officers of Rajasthan
In Karnataka, government employees were protesting for various demands including OPS. State Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has formed this committee to end their protest, the chairmanship has been entrusted to an IAS of the level of Additional Chief Secretary.
Three IAS officers have been made members along with him. This committee will visit Rajasthan first because Rajasthan implemented OPS first. After Rajasthan, this committee will visit Chhattisgarh, because there is also a Congress government there. After these two states, this committee will visit Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jharkhand.
In Rajasthan, the committee will meet Chief Secretary Usha Sharma, Additional Chief Secretary Finance Department Akhil Arora, Principal Secretary to CM Kuldeep Ranka. The committee has to submit its report to the Karnataka government by April 30.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Arun Singh is in charge of both Rajasthan and Karnataka states.
BJP will soon clarify its stand on OPS in Rajasthan also
The in-charge of Rajasthan BJP is Arun Singh, who is also in-charge of Karnataka BJP. Sources say that Singh’s advice has been there in forming the committee on OPS.
He is continuously seeing the enthusiasm of the Congress on this scheme in Rajasthan. The BJP is in opposition in Rajasthan, so a committee can be constituted at the party level, which will study the effects of OPS here before the elections and hand over the report to the BJP leadership, so that the party can implement OPS in front of the public. Couldn’t keep his clear opinion on whether to do or not.
The issue is related to 20-22 crore voters
The working class is considered to be the largest voting community in all the states of the country including Rajasthan. Employees have been creating an atmosphere in favor of or against the governments through their activities, word of mouth, service delivery and protests by their organizations.
When elections are held, their voting percentage is always higher than any other voter community. About 95 percent of the employee voters vote. The number of this voter community across the country is believed to be around 20-22 crore (including family members).
- According to the statistics of the Central Government, there are about 4 crore 70 lakh government employees across the country.
- There are about 8 lakh employees in Rajasthan alone.
- There are about 9 lakh employees in Madhya Pradesh.
- There are about 10 lakh workers in Karnataka.
- There are about 2 lakh employees in Chhattisgarh.
- The largest organization of government employees is the army in India, with a personnel strength of about 1.4 million. After this there are Railways where about 12 lakh 54 thousand personnel work and then there are Para Military Forces (Semi Military Force) where about 8 lakh 86 thousand personnel are employed.
- Generally, governments and political parties take the vote bank of employees very seriously, political parties count their family members along with employees in the same category.
- More than 100 employee organizations in Delhi had also demonstrated on 8th December-2022 demanding implementation of OPS across the country.
Himachal’s defeat and Maharashtra’s CM Shinde warned
BJP was continuously keeping silence on this. Union Finance Ministry, Niti Aayog, Finance Commission and economists were even calling it dangerous.
Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had outright rejected the demand for its implementation in a press conference in Jaipur.
But in Himachal Pradesh BJP got defeated in the elections. The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance was defeated on three seats in the recent by-elections held on January 30 for five seats in the Legislative Council (Council) in Maharashtra.
The number of government teachers and employees was more in these seats. After this defeat, Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde talked about positive thinking on the issue of OPS in a meeting in Konkan region on 17th February.
Shinde said that giving OPS in Maharashtra will be considered. For this talks will be held with the organizations of teachers and employees.
In the review done after losing the assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh, the party also cited OPS as a reason. In such a situation, now BJP does not want to keep silence on this in any other state.
watch these elections
Karnataka has 28 Lok Sabha seats, which are crucial for government formation at the Centre. There, there are 224 assembly seats here. Due to 10 lakh employees, it is very important to give assurance on this biggest issue of employees in this state.
Karnataka is followed by elections in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh which have 65 Lok Sabha seats (25, 29 and 11 respectively). There are about 19-20 lakh workers in all the three states. If you add the number of employees of central departments, then this number is about 25 lakhs. Two of these three states currently have Congress governments and have implemented OPS.
Impact on 30 assembly seats of Rajasthan
In Rajasthan, Congress and BJP consider the working class as strong voters in about 30 assembly seats. By the way, there is a large number of employees on all 200 seats. These seats include Civil Lines, Malviya Nagar, Sanganer, Ajmer North, Ajmer South, Kishangarh, Bhilwara, Bharatpur, Bikaner West, Sriganganagar, Udaipur, Kota North, Sikar, Alwar, Sursagar, Balotra, Kekri, Barmer, Phulera, Tonk, Beawar. , Deoli-Uniara, Laxmangarh, Dausa, Bundi, Didwana, Churu, Bikaner East, Suratgarh and Kota South.
Kejriwal, Soren and Akhilesh also joined
After giving OPS to government employees in March-2022, CM Gehlot announced in the budget to give OPS to about one lakh employees of Board, Corporation, Board, Commission on February 10, 2023. Gehlot started in the whole country in terms of OPS.
Later Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, Himachal Chief Minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukku and former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav have also reiterated his announcement.
Ever since CM Gehlot has implemented OPS for the employees, various employee organizations often come to him to express their gratitude.
BJP can become a follower of Congress
This is the first political issue in the last 8-10 years, where the BJP is seen becoming a follower of the Congress. Professor Vedprakash Sharma, State President of Congress’s Research Department, told Bhaskar that OPS is a revolutionary step. Congress has been on top in implementing it.
After implementing it by CM Ashok Gehlot, the party has promised to implement it in Gujarat, Himachal and Karnataka as well. The party also got success in Himachal. The same will happen in Karnataka. Further, this issue is sure to be redeemed in the entire country including Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
Former Vice-Chancellor of Rajasthan University and author of socio-political subjects, Prof. Of. Ale. Sharma says that no major political party can leave any major issue unanswered. BJP is currently a powerful party in the entire country. In such a situation, he will have to tell his side on the issue of rejecting or accepting it.
Have opposed OPS so far
CM Ashok Gehlot, while implementing OPS during the budget in the Vidhansabha, had said that government employees should work without worrying about their future. OPS is necessary for this.
- NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Suman Berry had given a statement in Delhi on 26 November-22 that the return of OPS to the states would be fatal for the country’s economy.
- Vice Chairman of the Central Finance Commission N. Of. Singh had said in Delhi on December 10, 2022 that OPS is a scheme to hollow out the economy.
- Reserve Bank Governor N. Raghuraman wrote an article in January-2023 stating that OPS is not a proper step for the economy.
- Former Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia had said in Delhi in December-2022 that OPS should not be implemented under any circumstances.
- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a press conference in Jaipur on 20 February 2023 that the states will not get any assistance from the Center for OPS. The state government should implement it on its own. OPS is not fair to the economy.
read this also-
‘Congress will be benefited if new districts are created’: Raghu Sharma said – huge discord in BJP; Kirodilal Meena was also taunted
Raising the issue of formation of new district, Congress MLA Raghu Sharma has raised the demand to make ‘Kekdi’ a district. On the question related to Congress’s tussle in Rajasthan, Raghu Sharma said – High command should be seen. These things should be addressed. Now there is six-eight months left. I hope a good solution will come out. ,click for full news)