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The central government has made a big change in the Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS- 1995). Under this, employees with less than six months of contributory service will also be able to withdraw from the Pension Fund (EPS). This will directly benefit about 23 lakh employees working in the private sector.

Earlier this was the rule.

Every year, lakhs of employee members of Pension Scheme-95 leave the scheme before completing the 10 years of contributory service required for pension. EPFO ​​has given withdrawal benefits to such members as per the provisions of the scheme. Earlier, EPFO ​​members were entitled to withdrawal benefits only after completing contributory service for six months or more.
 

Members who left the scheme before six months were not entitled to it. This was the reason why many claims of members who exited before rendering mandatory service were rejected. The report said that during the financial year 2023-24, about seven lakh claims of exit benefits were rejected due to less than six months of contributory service.

The calculation will be like this.

The government has made another amendment to ensure that every month of service is taken into account and withdrawal benefits are given in proportion to that. This amendment covers members who have not rendered the required service to be eligible for the scheme or members who have attained the age of 58 years. Now the amount that can be withdrawn will depend on the number of months of service completed by the member and the salary on which EPS contributions have been received.
What is EPS
The Employees' Pension Scheme (EPS) was introduced in 1995 for employees in the organized sector. Employees eligible for the Employees' Provident Fund Scheme are also eligible for the Employees' Pension Scheme. Both employers and employees contribute to this fund, which is operated by the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) under the Ministry of Labor and Employment. A minimum of 10 years of contributory service is required to start a pension under this scheme.

Group Insurance Scheme for Government Employees Discontinued
The Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) has decided to discontinue deductions under the Group Insurance Scheme (GIS) for government employees who joined service after September 1, 2013, with immediate effect. Recently, EPFO ​​has issued a circular in this regard.

It has been said that this decision will affect only those government employees who have joined service after September 1, 2013. The deduction made from their salary will be refunded to them. This decision will give some increase in the salary of the employees. This scheme was started on January 1, 1982.