Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Nothing new

Sir, — The pension scheme announced in the budget and proposed to be launched by the LIC is no different from a fixed deposit scheme paying monthly interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum. The announcement misleads the people. It is also not clear whether the amount has to be invested for a stipulated period and can be withdrawn before the date of maturity or after a certain period. There is already an investment scheme — Post Office Monthly Income Scheme (POMIS) — in which any person above 18 can invest an amount for six years and get monthly interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum plus 10 per cent bonus after six years.

But in this new scheme, only pensioners above 55 years of age can invest the money. The scheme raises two genuine doubts: In what way it is more advantageous than the POMIS and does it mean that a person will be considered to become a senior citizen on attaining the age of 55. People are at a loss to understand as to why the Government has added colour to the routine investment scheme and named it a pension scheme.

K.S. Srinivasan,
Chennai

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Opinion

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• Undemocratic ways
• Unfettering Higher Education
• Other dimensions of Ayodhya
• Double helix
• Digging up the past
• Dig canals
• Nothing new
• An industrial titan

Copyright © 2003, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu