Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has outrightly rejected Congress leader Jairam Ramesh’s allegations regarding Atal Pension Scheme. This scheme has been designed on the basis of best alternative to Atal Pension Yojana.
Atal Pension Yojana (APY): Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday rejected Congress’s allegations and said that Atal Pension Yojana (APY) has been designed on the basis of better behavior option and it guarantees minimum eight percent return.
Sitharaman posted on social media platform “This is a well-intentioned and beneficial facility that is in the best interests of customers.”
He said that instead of deciding to continue planning every year, people have to decide to leave, which helps many of them make the right decision and save for their retirement.
Earlier, the Congress attacked the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government over the Atal Pension Scheme, alleging that it is a ‘very poorly designed scheme’ and a ‘paper tiger’ for which officials have the power to deceive people and One has to be forced to participate in it.
Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh said that this scheme is like the headline management policy of the Modi government and very few people are actually getting the benefits of it.
His attack came after a media report claimed that at least one in three subscribers who opted out of the central government’s Atal Pension Yojana (APY) for the unorganized sector did so because their accounts were not ‘clear’. ‘ Were opened without permission.
The report cites a recent sample study of the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).
Attacking Ramesh, Sitharaman said he did not bother to check the facts on the Guaranteed Pension Scheme.
He said that regardless of the prevailing interest rates and returns, the minimum return under APY is guaranteed by the Government of India to be at least eight percent. This is an attractive guaranteed minimum return.