.Reiterating its opposition to the Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority Bill, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Thursday said it should not be passed by Parliament.
In a statement, the party Polit Bureau said the Bill would deprive lakhs of government employees, both at the Central and State levels, of their right to get an assured rate of pension at the time of retirement, which they had been enjoying.
The government, it said, had ignored the Standing Committee's recommendations in this regard and would provide the legal backing for putting the pension funds into the stock market.
“This neo-liberal measure is being undertaken despite the pension funds in Western countries being badly hit by the 2008 financial crisis. Many employees found their pension benefits being sharply curtailed,” the statement said. The provision for 26 per cent FDI in the pension sector must be totally opposed, the party said, adding that the government was not including this provision in the Bill so that it could increase the FDI component in the later years without amending the law. “This Bill should not be passed in Parliament. The CPI (M) appeals to the entire Opposition to unitedly defeat the passage of the Bill,'' it said.