Tamil Nadu Employees Get Assured Pension After Retirement, Read about TAPS Scheme

The Tamil Nadu Government has launched Tamil Nadu Assured Pension Scheme (TAPS) for State Employees. Employee unions had threatened to launch an indefinite strike from January 6 if their demands were not fulfilled. With this announcement, the strike has been deferred.

The employees were protesting for Old Pension Scheme but the government has introduced TAPS. The employees will contribute 10% of their basic salary to the pension corpus and the state will bear the rest. Under OPS, the government was bearing the entire pension fund contribution.

The financial burden on the state is expected to go up steeply under TAPS, with a one-time contribution of Rs 13,000 crore to the pension fund and additional contribution of Rs 11,000 crore every year.

Pensioners will be eligible for Dearness Allowance (DA) hikes every six months on par with serving gover nment employees. In the event of a pensioner’s death, 60% of the last-drawn pension will be paid as family pension to the nominated family members. Besides, gratuity up to Rs 25 lakh will be paid on retirement or in the event of death during service, based on the length of service.

Key highlights of the new TAPS

1. Under the scheme, 50% of the last drawn salary of government employees would be offered as the assured pension.
2. To provide 50% of the last drawn monthly salary as pension, 10% contribution will be given by the employees, and the rest will be provided by the state government. 
3. Pensioners will also receive a Dearness Allowance hike every six months, on par with government employees.
4. If a pensioner dies, 60% of the pension amount would be granted as a family pension to the nominees. 
5. If any employee dies in harness, or in case of death at the time of retirement, death gratuity of up to ₹25 lakh would be provided. The amount of death gratuity would depend on how long the employee has worked.
6. After this scheme is implemented, all who retire without completing the qualifying service period for receiving a pension will be provided a minimum pension.
7. Employees who joined service under the Contributory Pension Scheme and retired without a pension before the implementation of TAPS will be given a special compassionate pension. 
8. For the introduction of this scheme, the Tamil Nadu government has to provide an additional ₹13,000 crore to the Pension Fund, and has to bear an expenditure of nearly ₹11,000 crore as the government’s contribution every year.