New Delhi: Various associations of Union government employees have given a thumbs-down to the terms of reference for the Union-appointed committee for reviewing the National Pension Scheme (NPS), The Business Line has reported.In a submission made to the finance secretary on Friday, June 9, the associations demanded that the old pension scheme be restored.According to Staffnews.in, the associations have made the following two main demands:1. To withdraw the NPS implemented for employees who were recruited on or after January 1, 2004 and to bring them all under the coverage of the old pension scheme under the CCS (Pension) Rules, 1972.2. To implement the General Pension Fund (GPF) scheme to employees who were recruited on or after January 1, 2004 by depositing the employees’ accumulated contribution along with returns to the their GPF account.The submission also stated that the NPS could leave employees’ pension to the “vagaries of the market”.“Pension is deferred wages for the protection and subsistence during old age. Moreover, the then-government introduced the Contributory Pension Scheme without any consultation with the trade unions/associations of the Central Government Employees, including the Staff Side of National Council (JCM),” the associations said. They added that they have opposed the new scheme ever since it was introduced in 2003.Also Read: OPS vs NPS: Why Has RBI Cautioned States Against the Old Pension Scheme?They also said that 20 years of the NPS’ implementation had “deprived social security/old age security to the retiring employees and had violated the following written assurance given by the Government of India in the Standing Committee meeting of the National Council (JCM) held on December 14, 2007.”In 2007, the Union government assured that those who had entered government services before 2004 would not be impacted by the new scheme.“For employees who had entered w.e.f. January 1, 2004 are not likely to be worse off vis-a-vis the current pension system in force, as the replacement rate would match to the present one. Thus, NPS is a win-win situation for employees and the government,” the Union government said according to the associations’ submission as posted on Staffnews.in.As per the NPS, the employees and the employer (the government) would contribute money to the corpus forming the pension. However, under the old pension scheme, the entire contribution used to be made by the government.