NPS Employees' Federation Demands Switch to Old Pension Scheme, Higher Retirement Age for Teachers in 8th Pay Commission Meeting

All central government employees who are National Pension System (NPS) subscribers should get the option of switching to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS); central government teachers' retirement age should increase from 60 years to 65 years; and all central government orders for its employees should simultaneously address employees from union territories (UTs) and central government autonomous bodies (CAB)- these were the three key points raised by All India NPS Employees' Federation (AINPSEF) in its meeting with 8th Pay Commission chairperson Ranjana Prakash Desai and other officials on Thursday (April 30, 2026).

Other than these three demands, the employee body stuck to its earlier key demands of a 3.833 fitment factor, minimum basic pay of Rs 69,000 and an annual increment of 6%-7% for all central government employees.

AINPSEF president Manjeet Singh Patel told ET Wealth that the employee body requested 8th Pay Commission members to provide central government NPS subscribers an option to switch to OPS after completing certain years of service.

Patel said AINPSEF's first demand was to abolish NPS to which, the 8th Pay Commission didn't agree. "We then give them a proposal that central government NPS subscribers after completing certain years of service should be given an option to switch to OPS to get an assured pension. We proposed that in such a case, the government, at the time of the retirement of an NPS subscriber, can keep its contribution plus growth on it while leaving the employee's contribution and the growth portion to themselves," said Patel.

Patel explains the reason behind suggesting such an option is that NPS is market-linked, and if the market is down for a long time at the time of the retirement of an employee, they will have no option but to draw a lower pension. Patel said that pension of employees retiring at low basic pays can be severely impacted if the market is down for a long time at their retirement. "For employees who switch from NPS to OPS at retirement, our suggestion was to provide them pension half of their last-drawn pay plus dearness allowance (DA)," says Patel.

Patel said the second demand was to increase the retirement age from 60 years to 65 of central government teachers, including those who are from Union Territories (UTs) and Central Government Autonomous Bodies (CABs), on the pattern of teachers selected through University Grant Commission (UGC). "Our proposal was that if UGC teachers can work till the age of 65, why can't central government teachers be allowed to work till 65," said Patel.

AINPSEF's third demand from the 8th Pay Commission was to ask the central government to issue orders simultaneously to all its employees including those from UTs and CABs. "These orders are issued for central government employees on the same day of their issuance, and then they are forwarded to UTs and CABs. The gap sometimes in of months. Sometimes, by the time these orders reach UTS and CABs, the last date to implement them is already over and hence, they are of no use. So, we want the central government to issue these orders simultaneously for all employees," says Patel.

AINPSEF has also proposed a uniform leave policy for all central government employees where it has demanded 14 casual leave, 30 earned leave and 20 medical leave every year for employees. Other than that, the employee body has also proposed a 45-day social obligation leave for every employee at the time of joining service.