Old Pension Scheme 2025: There is good news for the government employees of Himachal Pradesh. A new update has come regarding the old pension scheme. The Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu government of the state has announced the implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) for state employees.

The Himachal government says that the employees who are not yet covered under this scheme will also be given its benefits soon. The government will also provide the benefits of OPS to the employees of the electricity board as promised. Discussions are going on at various levels on this. The government has also given the benefit of OPS to HRTC employees.

Read what the Deputy CM said about OPS

In the budget session of Himachal Assembly, MLA Satpal Singh Satti had raised a question regarding OPS, to which Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri replied that Congress had given the first guarantee of OPS and the employees have also been given its benefits. One lakh 17 thousand 521 employees have opted for OPS option, only 1356 employees have opted for NPS.

What did the Deputy CM say on NPS

He said that the Central Government owes Rs 9242 crore. Out of this, 50 percent i.e. about Rs 5 thousand crore belongs to the Himachal Government, which the State Government is demanding back. Both the government and the employees have contributed equally to NPS, so the opposition leader should change his stance and lobby to get Himachal’s money back. The employees here will be given the benefit of pension only when the state’s share is deposited in the state treasury. As soon as the employees who have joined NPS deposit money in the state treasury, their pension will be released.

Know what is the difference between OPS and NPS

In OPS, after the retirement of a government employee, half the amount of the last basic salary and dearness allowance is given as a lifelong pension from the government treasury.

Under NPS, the government employee has to pay 10% of his basic salary as pension and the state government contributes only 14%.

In OPS, dearness allowance is increased twice every year. The pension received by the family of the pensioner in case of his death is also included in OPS.

In OPS, employees get gratuity of up to Rs 20 lakh after retirement. There is no permanent provision for gratuity at the time of retirement in NPS.

In the New Pension Scheme (NPS), the Dearness Allowance (DA) which is received after 6 months is not applicable. In OPS, the Dearness Allowance (DA) which is received after 6 months is applicable for the employees.

The retired employee also gets the benefit of pension revision after the implementation of the Pension Commission.

There is no guarantee of a fixed pension after retirement. NPS is based on the stock market. It does not include the provision of dearness allowance.

In NPS, there is a provision to give 50% of the total salary as pension to the family members of the employee in case of his death during service.

Unlike OPS, in the new pension scheme, you have to pay tax on whatever money you get on retirement as per the stock market.

In OPS, on retirement of the employee, he does not have to pay any income tax on the interest earned on GPF.