- Bruhaspati Samal-
“Without any motion or movement, there is no life.” These words of M.S. Dhoni (Indian Cricketer), though spoken in the context of sports, capture an eternal truth about human existence — that vitality, growth, and renewal come only through constant movement. Yet, for millions of India’s retired government employees — the very hands that built, guarded, and guided the nation through decades of service — this motion has been deliberately frozen. Ironically, on the Pensioners’ Portal of the Government of India itself, these words by Dhoni in addition to similar words by Walt Mossberg (American technology Journalist and Moderator), and Ratan Tata (Former Chairman, Tata Sons) stand as moral inscriptions on life’s continuity. But the government that proudly displays them seems blind to their meaning when it comes to the dignity and survival of its own pensioners.
For two decades now, pensioners across India have been struggling for one simple, legitimate demand — the restoration of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) and an end to the discrimination perpetuated through fragmented pension policies. The introduction of the National Pension System (NPS) in 2004, and now the Unified Pension Scheme (UPS) from April 2025, has not only dismantled the sense of social security once guaranteed under the Constitution but has also divided the retired community into unequal classes based on arbitrary cut-off dates. The recent move to “validate” different Pension Rules through the Finance Act 2025 further deepens this inequality — treating retirees not as equals under one service, but as subjects of financial experiments.
When Ratan Tata said, “Ups and downs in life are very important to keep us going, because a straight line even in an ECG means we are not alive,” he was speaking about resilience. Yet, the government’s silence and indifference toward pensioners’ struggles over the last twenty years threaten to turn this symbolic “straight line” into a reality — a life without movement, without voice, without recognition. Pensioners have marched, written, pleaded, and protested, most recently in the Parliament March on 10th October 2025, only to find that the corridors of power remain unmoved.
The contradiction is stark. The same portal that preaches life, motion, and reinvention through Walt Mossberg’s reflection — “I see retirement as just another of these reinventions, another chance to do new things and be a new version of myself” — presides over policies that rob retirees of the financial and emotional stability necessary for such reinvention. How can a pensioner reinvent himself when his pension — his sole means of living — has been reduced to a speculative market investment? How can there be “motion” when the government itself stands as a wall against progress, refusing to correct an injustice that has persisted for two decades?
The Old Pension Scheme was not merely a financial commitment; it was a moral and constitutional assurance — that those who dedicate their youth to public service would not face insecurity in their old age. The replacement of OPS with NPS, and now the UPS, has transformed that assurance into uncertainty. Under the defined benefit system of OPS, pensioners knew what they would receive; under the defined contribution model of NPS and UPS, they know only what they give, not what they will get. This is not reform — it is abdication of responsibility.
The government’s validation of pension rules through the Finance Act 2025 is an even more worrisome step. It bypasses judicial scrutiny, subverts natural justice, and introduces discrimination among equals — violating the spirit of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution. Those who retired before or after certain dates are now treated as separate classes, despite having served under the same conditions and responsibilities. What kind of welfare state divides its elders so deliberately?
The pension movement is not about politics; it is about dignity. Every protest, every march, every memorandum reflects the desperation of those who once ensured the smooth functioning of this nation — teachers, clerks, engineers, postal employees, railway workers, defense staff, and officers from countless departments. They carried the Republic forward through their labour and loyalty, believing that the State would carry them in their final years. To now deny them that right is to deny the very moral foundation on which a welfare government stands.
The government must remember that pension is not a charity — it is a deferred wage, a constitutional right recognized by the Supreme Court in the landmark judgment of D.S. Nakara vs. Union of India (1982). The Court held that pensioners form a single class and that arbitrary classification among them is unconstitutional. Yet, the validation clauses in the Finance Act 2025 effectively reverse this principle, creating divisions that the Court itself once struck down.
It is a matter of deep irony that a government celebrating “Digital India,” “Viksit Bharat,” and “Ease of Living” refuses to extend the same ease and dignity to its retired servants. By ignoring the continuing appeal for OPS restoration and fair pension parity, the government risks alienating one of the most disciplined and morally upright sections of society — its senior citizens who once upheld the machinery of the State.
A humane government must not merely govern the living; it must honour those who have lived for it. The voices of pensioners are not cries of the past — they are a moral mirror for the present. When the motion of life is denied to those who once gave motion to the nation, the Republic itself becomes still.
It is time the Government of India listens — not with policy briefs, but with conscience. The restoration of the Old Pension Scheme and the removal of discrimination through the Finance Act 2025 are not acts of generosity; they are acts of justice. The pensioners are not asking for favours — they are asking for the continuity of life, the dignity of motion, and the assurance that the government still believes in the very truths it inscribes on its own portal. Because when motion stops, life stops — and when a nation stops listening to its elders, its moral heart stops beating too.
(The author is a Service Union Representative currently working as the General Secretary, Confederation of Central Govt. Employees and Workers, Odisha State CoC and President Forum of Civil Pensioners’ Association, Odisha State Committee, Bhubaneswar and a columnist.)
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