Atal Pension Yojana: The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are around the corner. So there is definitely a clash between the party and the opposition. Now the issue has become Modi government’s ambitious pension scheme Atal Pension Yojana, regarding which a war of words has started on social media platforms.
It first started with Jairam Ramesh when he raised questions on the Atal Pension Scheme and said that the Finance Minister was counting the benefits of the Atal Pension Scheme on March 24 in Bengaluru. Just a day later, facts emerged that almost one-third of consumers who have been linked to the scheme had not taken permission to join the scheme. Officers enlisted without permission to accomplish their goals.
The finance minister was in Bengaluru on March 24, where she was announcing the benefits of the Atal Pension Yojana launched by the Modi government. Just a day later, this is what emerged:
• Up to one-third of subscribers… pic.twitter.com/wRewnCA1Nh
— Jairam Ramesh (@Jairam_Ramesh) March 26, 2024
Jairam Ramesh wrote on the social media platform that the returns are not attractive as it is a fixed income pension which depreciates with inflation. Describing the Atal Pension Yojana as paper shares, Jairam Ramesh said it was badly designed.
The finance minister hit back at Jairam Ramesh’s post. Attacking Jairam Ramesh, Nirmala Seetha Raman wrote that he is ignorant of the basic principles of designing a good pension scheme. The Finance Minister said, Atal Pension Yojana has been designed based on best practices so that premium payments continue automatically until the subscriber opts out, which is in the interest of the subscribers. This allows people to decide to stop, rather than needing to decide to continue every year. This helps people save for their retirement.
On Atal Pension Yojana, @Jairam_Ramesh Known to use verbal sophistication to hide facts, is malicious or ignorant of the basic principles of designing a good pension scheme.
Atal Pension Yojana is designed based on best practice choice architecture to automatically continue… https://t.co/5y6Gn3MBYx
— Nirmala Sitharaman (Modi’s family) (@nsitharaman) March 26, 2024
Finance Minister wrote in his post, Jairam Ramesh is calling it Fixed Income Pension. But they did not check the facts. The government guarantees a minimum of 8 per cent on the Atal Pension Yojana, irrespective of interest rate or returns. This is an attractive guaranteed minimum return, said the finance minister. The Government of India subsidizes PFRDA to cover the shortfall in actual profits. According to the Finance Minister, if Atal Pension Yojana users get more returns on their investments, the users will get more returns. He said that at present the actual profit is more than 8 percent.
In fact, the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) found in its sample survey that one in three subscribers left the Atal Pension Yojana because their permission was not sought. To meet the target, bank employees enrolled in the scheme without being told.
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(Tags Translation) Nirmala Seetha Raman (T) Jayaram Ramesh (T) Atal Pension Yojana (T) Pension Scheme
