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The government has given a big relief to the central employees under the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS). Now retirement and death gratuity benefits have also been included in this scheme. The new order will give the employees the option to be brought back under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) if they die during service.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners' Welfare (DOPPW) of the Ministry of Personnel issued an order on the options for central employees included in UPS to get benefits under OPS on the death of the employee during service or his dismissal from government service due to disability or incapacity.

DOPPW Secretary V. Srinivas has announced an order that provides options for employees who die during service to be brought back under the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). This order establishes parity between pensioners of the National Pension System (NPS) and the Old Pension Scheme (OPS). Additionally, they will also be entitled to gratuity up to Rs 25 lakh.

Earlier there was a problem here-

Till now, after opting for UPS, if an employee dies or becomes disabled before retirement, then nothing was clear in that situation. Employees were confused as to what kind of pension or family pension they would get. Employee organizations had demanded to clarify the situation on this. Now the government has issued the option of an old pension like NPS in case of death or disability during service in UPS. Also, the provision of gratuity has been made.

This provision was in NPS-
DOPPW had notified the Central Civil Services (NPS Implementation) Rules, 2021 for regulation of service-related matters of Central Government employees coming under NPS. Its Rule 10 provides for an employee covered under NPS to exercise the option to avail of benefits under NPS or OPS in case of death during service or retirement on the basis of invalidity or disability.

Now more employees will join UPS-
Manjit Singh Patel, President of All India NPS Employees Federation, has welcomed the government order to include death-cum-retirement gratuity in NPS. He called it a historic and necessary step. According to Patel, this will remove the misunderstandings of the employees and more employees will opt for NPS, as now they will get the benefit of gratuity on retirement or death.

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