Over 1.4 million Maharashtra government employees, including bureaucrats and teachers, will go on an indefinite strike from August 29 to protest the delay in issuing a notification of the revised rules of the National Pension System (NPS). The protest is expected to put further pressure on the coalition government, which is already reeling over the impact of Maratha’s OBC reservation issue.  

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Last year, the government created a committee chaired by former IAS officer Subodh Kumar to investigate the employees’ grievances against NPS and demand to reintroduce the old pension scheme. After the committee published its findings in March 2024, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde proposed a revised NPS allowing a pension of 50 per cent of the employee’s last drawn basic wage plus dearness allowance. However, a formal notification for the amended pension programme hasn’t been issued over the five months, triggering protests. 

On Tuesday, the Maharashtra State Gazetted Officers Federation (MSGOF), a union of class 1 and class 2 government officers, announced an indefinite strike from August 29 over the notification issue and other concerns.  

“CM Shinde unveiled the amended NPS in March. Even though over six months have elapsed, the administration has yet to send a notification. Federations of several state government employees have voted to go on indefinite strike beginning August 29. We have also decided to join the strike,” MSGOF president Vinod Desai told the media. 

Desai added that over 1.4 million people, including 567,000 state government employees and 840,000 Zilla Parishad personnel, such as bureaucrats and teachers, will join the protest. 

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G.D. Kulthe, founder and principal consultant of MSGOF, said it will continue the strike until the government issues a notification regarding the updated NPS.

“Our delegation met with the chief secretary in June and pointed out that the notification had not been issued. We were told it will be released in one or two months. However, it is now the middle of August, and the model code of conduct for the forthcoming assembly elections is expected to go into effect in another month or two. So, the government should release a notification on the updated NPS right away,” he added.