Of late, the Government has invited more criticism than praise for its policies pertaining to the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF). So be it imposing the tax on EPF, or lowering the interest rate or investing more in equities; policies of the Government went off target more than once. However, strong public reaction and the pressure of labour unions has pushed the Government on the back foot. PersonalFN has been maintaining the entire account of such events and has been writing extensively about the subject. Given below are some candid entries.

Are You A Salaried Person? You Are Born To Pay Taxes

EPF To Up Its Equity Exposure In Search Of Superior Returns

Why Finance Ministry Opposed Paying 8.8% Interest On EPF?

The Government Is All Set To Fleece Your Unclaimed PF Deposits
 

If you read the fourth one of the articles, you will realise how the Government has been testing the limits of the public's acceptance of strict and probably unfair policies. The Government has been seekingto channelise unethically the unclaimed money lying idle not only in EPF but also in other Small Savings Schemes (SSS) for over 7 years to Senior Citizen's Welfare Fund (SCWF).

The Game plan of the Government is simple.
 

• Announce terrible and unfair policies
• See if the common man protests against them
• No protest will be construed as a red signal to the policies
• And there’s always an option to back out, shamelessly, as even the Government knows, these policies, in essence, are unfair

But, now this approach seems to be backfiring on the Government. Recently, all the labour unions including the one affiliated to the RSS boycotted the meeting called by the Central Board of Trustees (CBT). The agenda of the meeting was to decide the amount of money EPFO (Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation) should invest in equity. Trade unions walked away as they thought the policy of channelizing the savings of the workers to setting up SCWF was the misappropriation of funds and needed explanation from the Government.
 

Government again on the back foot…
Although the representatives of labour unions are fewer in number as compared to the number of Government representatives in the CBT, their protest has been loud enough to be heard. Following this protest, the Labour Minister tried to cover up the matter. The Labour Minister reacted saying, “We will withdraw the agenda item from today's meeting. Will look into the issue.” Labour unions have also protested the decision of the Government to hike the exposure of equity in EPFO’s investments. However, there’s no concrete assurance from the Government on rolling back on its decision.The Labour Minister has stated that his ministry will take up the matter to the Finance Ministry.

Why is the Government targeting EPF account holders?
Nobody will protest if the Government launches the SCWF. The burning question however is, who gave the Government the right to use workers’ savings for that? If the Government is gravely concerned about senior citizens, what stops it from making companies set aside a portion of their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) budget which can be utilised for setting up SCWF? Channelizing the funds of others without their consent may or may not illegal but it’s definitely cruel, sleazy, and unethical.

If the Government claims the success of Jan Dhan Yojana, what holds it back from tracing the account holders of unclaimed EPF accounts using their Aadhaar details and KYC data with their bankers? A person may not be reading the emails or letters that the provident fund office might be sending to him/her. But if the account holder exists, he/she must be using his/her bank account. Why not contact such people through the banking channel? Isn’t Aadhaar adequate enough to trace workers who are yet to claim their EPF deposits? It seems the Government doesn’t want to reach out to these people.

The intent of channelising the hard earned money of workers to the SCWF shows the superciliousness of the Government. If it is concerned about social welfare at all, why isn’t it considerate about the well-being of those who would lose the claim on their money due to lopsided Government policies? In plain English, this act is called cannibalization. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines it as: “to deprive of an essential part or element in creating or sustaining another facility or enterprise.”

To add one more achievement to its name (launch of SCWF), the Government is undeterred to trample the workers.

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