Apathy of the Modi Government towards the Central Government Employees and Pensioners! —AITUC statement

ALL INDIA TRADE UNION CONGRESS (AITUC)

Press Release

The following statement issued to the press by Ms. Amarjeet Kaur, General Secretary, AITUC today - 4th November 2025

Modi Government betrays the 69 lakh Pensioners and Family Pensioners by keeping out them from the purview of 8th Central Pay Commission !

The Government takes advantage of the validation authority taken in the Parliament through the Finance Bill to decide about the fate of the existing Pensioners!

AITUC condemns the apathy of the Modi Government towards the Central Government Employees and Pensioners!

The Government of India published the Gazette notification on 8th CPC on the 3rd of November 2025. On a perusal of the Terms of Reference (ToR) given to the 8th Central Pay Commission by the Government is another reflection of the apathy of the present Government towards the working class and the old age pensioners. The ToR as already mentioned by AITUC is so much restrictive that the 8th Central Pay Commission cannot recommend a need based decent living wage to the employees. The ToR directly and indirectly reminds the 8th CPC that they should not recommend any reasonable hike in the wages / emoluments and allowances to be paid to the central government employees. Already there is acute shortage of manpower in all the Ministries and Departments thereby forcing each employee to do the work of at least 2 employees by working more hours without any additional benefits. In the railways including women loco pilots are asked work more than 12 hours without even providing the basic amenities for them. The Government instead of filling the more than 10 lakh vacancies is resorting to fixed term employment and re-employment of retired employees especially in Railways and Defence. In this situation the 8th CPC Terms of Reference is total demoralization of the central government employees who are already in deep distress because of the excessive workload and no non-contributory pension for them after their retirement.

The Terms of Reference has no mention about the restoration of non-contributory Old Pension Scheme in place of the contributory NPS and UPS.

As expected after the passage of the Finance Bill in the Parliament through which the Government has taken the authority whether to revise the pension of existing pensioners or not, the Government has kept out the existing more than 69 lakh pensioners and family pensioners out of the purview of 8th CPC which means there will not be any revision of pension from 01-01-2026. It is not only a betrayal but also a grave injustice to those senior citizens who gave their sweat and blood for the service of the nation. AITUC condemns this anti employee and anti pensioners approach of the Modi Government and urges upon to revise the Terms of References given to the 8th CPC by including the following :

1) To examine the requirement of a need based decent living wages to the central government employees considering the number of family members as minimum 5, requirement of the minimum nutritious and hygienic food in take considering today