Lucknow. Government employees of Uttar Pradesh will now have to wait for the implementation of the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS). Even though the Central Government has approved this scheme on 24 August 2024 and issued a notification for the central employees on 24 January 2025, but this process is still in the initial stage in the state governments.

Why is the matter stuck in UP?

According to the Finance Department, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) is currently evaluating the technical and administrative shortcomings of this scheme. It will be sent to the state governments only after the evaluation is completed. Financial and legal aspects of the scheme will also be considered before issuing the notification in Uttar Pradesh.

According to Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) Deepak Kumar, “No formal notification has come from PFRDA yet. Notification was definitely issued in Maharashtra, but the actual implementation of the scheme has not started there either.”

Background of UPS

The Central Government had implemented the National Pension Scheme (NPS) by abolishing the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) from April 2005. NPS is considered a market-based pension system, in which contributions from both the employee and the government are invested in the market. But with time the feeling of insecurity increased among the employees, because market fluctuations have a direct impact on the pension amount. After continuous agitations by employees and withdrawal of OPS by some states like Himachal Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, the Central Government found a middle path and announced the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS).

employee expectations

Lakhs of employees of the state are eagerly waiting for the implementation of UPS. They hope that this new scheme will reduce the instability regarding future pension and will provide security like OPS again. The biggest relief in UPS is that the employee will be assured of getting a fixed minimum pension after retirement, whereas in NPS this is not guaranteed.