DHARNA AGAINST THE NEW PENSION SCHEME

DHARNA AGAINST THE NEW PENSION SCHEME

2-AUG-ENG 4

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA---------------------------Based on the decision of the State Committee of the National Old Pension Scheme Movement (NMOPS), in the next phase of the phased movement, demonstrations and dharnas were organized at the district headquarters of Bihar including the entire country, against the New Pension Scheme (NPS) and Universal Pension Scheme (UPS) and demanding the re-implementation of the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) across the country. In this series, in Bhojpur too, a march was taken out from the Canal Irrigation Department, Flood Control Office, Ara in the presence of all the comrades under the banner of NMOPS and Bihar State Non-Gazetted Employees Federation (Gop Group). This march reached the station premises via various routes, where it was given the form of a meeting. The protest march was led by Suman ji (District Secretary, Bihar State Non-Gazetted Employees Federation Gop Group, Bhojpur and Co-President, NMOPS Bhojpur), Ramanand Singh (President, Employees Federation Gop Group, Bhojpur), Ranjeet Kumar (District President, Land Reforms Employees Union Gop Group, Bhojpur), Dharm Kumar (District Secretary, Primary Teachers Union Gop Group, Bhojpur), Awadhesh Paswan (District Vice President, Chowkidar Union, Bhojpur), Ramesh Kumar Yadav (District President, Panchayat Rojgar Sevak Sangh, Bhojpur), Sameer Kumar (Irrigation Department), Dhruv Pandit (Senior Leader, Panchayat Rojgar Sevak Sangh, Bhojpur), Suraj Pandit, B.K. Shukla (Convener, Clerk Cadre Gop Group, Bhojpur), Kanhaiya Ram (Joint Secretary, Employees Federation Gop Group, Bhojpur), Anjani Kumar (Joint Secretary, Medical Union Gop Group, Bhojpur), Uma Shankar Singh (District Secretary, Bihar Medical Public Health Employees Union Gop Group, Bhojpur), Jwala Singh (Revenue Inspector Union, Bhojpur), Sandhya Singh, Poonam, Anamika, Anjali Kumari (Women Supervisor), Shobha Kumari, Manju Kumari, Shivji Ram (Secretary, Fourth Class Employees Union).

Strong slogans were raised during the march, such as- "Return NPS, UPS", "Stop privatization", "Stop privatization in government departments", "Regularize contract-honorarium workers", "Implement old pension", "Bihar government open your ears, otherwise there will be a traffic jam", "Stop inflation, fix prices, otherwise there will be a traffic jam" etc. The protest march turned into a meeting after reaching the station premises. The meeting was chaired by Umesh Kumar Suman. In his address, he said that there is a difference between NPS, UPS and OPS, which is important to understand. This movement will continue until OPS is implemented. He demanded that the Bihar government should implement the old pension scheme before the elections, otherwise the employees and officials of the whole of Bihar will make a strategy and intensify the movement in support of OPS.

The meeting was conducted by Dharm Kumar. He strongly opposed the anti-employee and anti-teacher policies of the Bihar government and the central government. He also expressed his views on the new education policy. Suman ji

District Secretary, Bihar State Non-Gazetted Employees Federation Gop Group, Bhojpur, Awadhesh Paswan, Ramesh, Dhruv Pandit, Ramanand Singh, Anjani Kumar, Anil, Sahu, Janaki ji, Uma Shankar, Jwala, Manju, Shobha, Sandhya, Kanhaiya, Dilip, Shukla, Surya Kumar, Sameer, Pankaj Kumar, Deepak Kumar Sharma, Ajay Pandey, Jwala Singh, Surendra Kumar, Shashi Singh, Vimal Kumar, Savita Kumari, Sanjay Kumar and other employees made this protest march successful.