Preparations for the general budget are going on in full swing. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the general budget in Parliament on February 1. Meanwhile, meetings of industry bodies and labor organizations are being held with the Finance Minister. In this, every organization is making its demand. In this episode, labor organizations on Monday demanded to increase the minimum pension under EPFO ​​​​five times in the budget for the financial year 2025-26, immediate formation of the Eighth Pay Commission and imposing more tax on super rich people. However, experts say that there is no hope of any decision on the demand of the Eighth Pay Commission in the budget. The government has already cleared its stand on this issue. 

Demand to increase income tax exemption limit to Rs 10 lakh 

In their traditional pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the trade union leaders also demanded raising the income tax exemption limit to Rs 10 lakh per annum, bringing a social security scheme for temporary workers and restoring the old pension scheme (OPS) for government employees. Sitharaman will present the budget for the financial year 2025-26 on February 1. In this sequence, she is holding discussions with representatives of various sectors. SP Tiwari, National General Secretary of the Trade Union Coordination Center (TUCC), told reporters after the meeting that the government should stop the initiative to privatize public sector undertakings and impose an additional two percent tax on the very rich to raise social security funds for workers in the unorganized sector. He also demanded social security for workers employed in the agricultural sector and fixing their minimum wages. 

Demand to increase minimum pension from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 

Pawan Kumar, Organising Secretary (Northern Region) of Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, said that the minimum pension payable under the Employees' Pension Scheme, 1995 (EPS-95) should first be increased from Rs 1,000 per month to Rs 5,000 per month and then VDA (variable dearness allowance) should also be added to it. He also suggested that the income tax exemption limit should be increased to Rs 10 lakh. Along with this, he also demanded from the government to exempt the income from pension from tax. Kumar also said that the Eighth Pay Commission should be constituted immediately to revise the salary structure of government employees.

It has been more than 10 years since the 7th Pay Commission was implemented 

Swadesh Dev Roy, national secretary of the labour organisation Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), supported the demand and said that more than 10 years have passed since the formation of the Seventh Pay Commission in February 2014. Dev Roy expressed concern over the sharp decline in the number of permanent employees in the central public sector undertakings. He said that in the 1980s, there were 21 lakh permanent employees in these undertakings, but in 2023-24 this number will come down to a little more than eight lakh. Deepak Jaiswal, national president of the National Front of Indian Trade Unions (NFITU), demanded separate budget allocation for the Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) and Employees' State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) to provide social security benefits to workers in the unorganised sector.