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Walkout in Kerala over plan to hike retirement age
The CPI-M-led Opposition LDF staged a walkout in the Kerala Assembly on Tuesday in protest against the refusal of leave for an adjournment motion on the Congress-headed UDF Government’s alleged move to raise the retirement age of Government employees from the present 56 years to 60 years.
The Opposition brought the adjournment motion following State Finance Minister KM Mani’s statement on Tuesday that raising of retirement age should be considered as pensions of retired employees had become a huge burden on the Government and that retirement age could be raised to 60 years if the State implemented the contributory pension scheme.
However, Mani made some revisions to his statement following protests from leaders belonging to both the ruling side and the Opposition and youth outfits. He told the House on Tuesday that the Government had not taken any decision in this regard and that he had put forward the idea merely for an academic discussion.
Moving notice for the adjournment motion, young CPI-M legislator P Sreeramakrishnan said the Government move was a big challenge against the youth of Kerala. The Government should consider the anxiety of the youths over such a move and it should think of utilising the services of retired employees instead of raising retirement age.
Sreeramakrishnan alleged that Mani’s statement on raising retirement age was not an expression of his personal opinion. “There is such a move, certainly. The Government is trying to trigger confrontation between the employees and the youths,” he said. The Finance Minister had got the retirement age raised from 55 years to 56 years through a proposal in his last State Budget.
Replying to the notice, Mani said the Government had not so far taken any decision to raise the retirement age to 60 years.
The CPI-M-led Opposition LDF staged a walkout in the Kerala Assembly on Tuesday in protest against the refusal of leave for an adjournment motion on the Congress-headed UDF Government’s alleged move to raise the retirement age of Government employees from the present 56 years to 60 years.
The Opposition brought the adjournment motion following State Finance Minister KM Mani’s statement on Tuesday that raising of retirement age should be considered as pensions of retired employees had become a huge burden on the Government and that retirement age could be raised to 60 years if the State implemented the contributory pension scheme.
However, Mani made some revisions to his statement following protests from leaders belonging to both the ruling side and the Opposition and youth outfits. He told the House on Tuesday that the Government had not taken any decision in this regard and that he had put forward the idea merely for an academic discussion.
Moving notice for the adjournment motion, young CPI-M legislator P Sreeramakrishnan said the Government move was a big challenge against the youth of Kerala. The Government should consider the anxiety of the youths over such a move and it should think of utilising the services of retired employees instead of raising retirement age.
Sreeramakrishnan alleged that Mani’s statement on raising retirement age was not an expression of his personal opinion. “There is such a move, certainly. The Government is trying to trigger confrontation between the employees and the youths,” he said. The Finance Minister had got the retirement age raised from 55 years to 56 years through a proposal in his last State Budget.
Replying to the notice, Mani said the Government had not so far taken any decision to raise the retirement age to 60 years.
