<p>Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said the UDF Government's decision to introduce Participatory Pension Scheme (PPS) for state service employees is an "imaginative measure" to save the state from a future "financial disaster."<br /><br />Reeling out statistics, he said in a statement that Kerala now spent 90.34 per cent of its tax and non-tax revenue on salary, pension and interest on debts, making if difficult to find adequate resources for capital investment.<br /><br />The Government's decision to introduce PPS from 2013 has sparked protests from the opposition LDF and employees unions, who dubbed it as a move in tandem with liberalisation and globalisation.</p>.<p>Chandy, however, said it was a decision which does not bring any immediate benefit to the present government. "On the other hand, it will increase its commitment. This is a decision taken with the intention of saving the state from a future financial disaster", he said.<br /><br />While most states had implemented PPS over the years, West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala have been reluctant to bring in the new scheme, he said.<br /><br />The state, where average longevity of people is higher than the national average, has a total of 5.50 lakh service pensioners against the total staff strength of 5.245 lakh. Every year, an additional 20,000 join the pension rolls, making it a recurring commitment.<br /><br />The state's pension commitment had jumped to Rs 8,178 crore a year from Rs 1,838 crore in the last 11 years. This had happened when the state was finding it tough to get resources to meet productive investments, he added.</p>
<p>Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said the UDF Government's decision to introduce Participatory Pension Scheme (PPS) for state service employees is an "imaginative measure" to save the state from a future "financial disaster."<br /><br />Reeling out statistics, he said in a statement that Kerala now spent 90.34 per cent of its tax and non-tax revenue on salary, pension and interest on debts, making if difficult to find adequate resources for capital investment.<br /><br />The Government's decision to introduce PPS from 2013 has sparked protests from the opposition LDF and employees unions, who dubbed it as a move in tandem with liberalisation and globalisation.</p>.<p>Chandy, however, said it was a decision which does not bring any immediate benefit to the present government. "On the other hand, it will increase its commitment. This is a decision taken with the intention of saving the state from a future financial disaster", he said.<br /><br />While most states had implemented PPS over the years, West Bengal, Tripura and Kerala have been reluctant to bring in the new scheme, he said.<br /><br />The state, where average longevity of people is higher than the national average, has a total of 5.50 lakh service pensioners against the total staff strength of 5.245 lakh. Every year, an additional 20,000 join the pension rolls, making it a recurring commitment.<br /><br />The state's pension commitment had jumped to Rs 8,178 crore a year from Rs 1,838 crore in the last 11 years. This had happened when the state was finding it tough to get resources to meet productive investments, he added.</p>