Proposed Increase In Retirement AGE

In my opinion it will be the greatest blunder on the part of the government if they  under financial pressure or political pressure decide to increase retirement age of central government  or bank employees . Such suicidal step may please retiring employees for two years but  will spoil the career and lives of those young unemployed youth who are in search of job since long.

It is a bitter and undeniable truth that government has completely failed to create job opportunities for educated youth and it is only the vacancies created after retirement of existing employees that job opportunities are created .Total number of employees in public sector banks was about 9 lac in the year 1998 and at the end  of the year 2011 the same was about 8 lac. It means there was almost a  fall of 15 % in staff strength in a span of 13 years whereas number of branches doubled during the same period and business grew by 30 times.

As such Extension of retiring age will further snatch away the opportunities of employment which could arise out of retirement of employee at the age of 60. 

If the government is really solve the problem of unemployment in the country they should make all efforts to create new jobs and make the education purely job oriented and as long as this task is not completed they should not try to curtail job opportunities likely to be created on account of retirement. 

Rather It will be a great help to unemployed youth if the retirement age of existing employees is brought down to 58 or 55 or even 50. Because employees who have worked for 15 or 30 or even 35 and 40 years , they have at least adequate money in the account on account of terminal benefits and pension benefits which accrue after retirement and hence they can manage their and their family expenses. 

But unemployed youth who do not get job at right age become victim of frustration and depression and in some cases they even adopt crime and criminal activities and some even opt for suicide.As such rise in unemployment in the country will prove fatal and destructive and further boost graph of crime.

It is important to mention here that not only students of families of businessmen or professionals , even children of employees of central or state government or that of banks are not getting job even after having prominent degrees in hand.

Therefore It is the duty of employees who are on the verge of retirement to retire voluntarily at the age of 50 or 55 or 58 but do not insist for increase in retirement age from 60 to 65. On the other hand it is the duty of the government to give some  motivational benefits to those employees who voluntarily decided to leave the job at age less than 60.  

Even if the government offer voluntary retirement scheme to working employees , the government will gain a lot by employing fresh youth at comparatively lower pay.In this way existing employees, unemployed youth and the government as employer , all will be in win win position.Besides government will get an opportunity to get rid of unwilled, sick and unskilled staff and in return get fresh and energetic new youth.

There may be exceptionally  few talented , highly skilled,experienced and intelligent employees whose existence is very much useful and whose removal may prove costly to employer , some specific scheme may be framed to reemploy them but with transparent policy only.

However ,Any delegated power or absolute power to any top boss of any company or government department or Head of any bank or to any person in India results in misuse of power and may give rise to whimsical reemployment and the same  will become the unavoidable practice as has been happening in the case of recruitment and promotion and posting in almost all banks and all government offices.

Cabinet decision to increase retirement age deferred-Business Standard

The government may make the anouncement in the Prime Minister's 15 August address

A proposal to increase the retirement age of government employees from 60 to 62 years came to the Cabinet on Thursday but a decision was deferred. The government might make the announcement in the Prime Minister’s Independence Day address, his last before general elections in 2014. The ministry of personnel, public grievances and pensions has proposed an increase in retirement age of government employees from 60 to 62 years, top sources confirmed.

There are around five million central government employees in India. The previous occasion the government raised the retirement age of central government employees was in 1998, from 58 to 60 years. The move is meant to ease the financial burden on the government in terms of its pension liabilities, sources said.

The retirement age of professors in all central universities was recently raised to 65 years. D L Sachdev, national secretary of the All India Trade Union Congress, said his union was totally against the increase of the retirement age beyond 60. It would hurt the youth, especially when the government is doing nothing to create jobs for them, Sachdev said.

Congress-affiliated Indian National Trade Union Congress national president Sanjeeva Reddy said his union had been demanding increase in the retirement age to 62 years and would welcome it.

Minister for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions V Narayanaswami had ruled out an increase in the retirement age to a question in Parliament in the winter session this year. An official in the ministry, when asked, refused to speak about it.

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