The Old Pension Scheme grew to become a contentious problem earlier than the Himachal Pradesh elections, because the Congress which had already launched the scheme in Rajasthan, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, promised to do the identical if it received within the State. The ballot guarantees undoubtedly struck a chord with the individuals of the hill State.
The OPS, below which the whole thing of the pension was paid by the federal government, was discontinued in 2004 and changed by the brand new pension scheme below which staff contribute 10% of their fundamental wage to their pension, whereas employers contribute 14%. Around 1.5 lakh staff in Himachal Pradesh are lined below the brand new pension scheme and ever since its introduction, there had been widespread protests calling for the restoration of the previous scheme.
Data from Lokniti-CSDS post-poll examine discovered {that a} staggering three-fourths of the voters (74%) within the State had been conscious of this electoral promise made by the Congress. Not solely had been the voters conscious of the scheme however help for it was additionally fairly excessive. Among those that had been conscious of the promise, an awesome 70% supported the restoration of the OPS (Table 1).
This help considerably translated into votes as 65% of those that had been in full help of Congress’ Old Pension Scheme voted for the social gathering (Table 2). However, the social gathering didn’t discover the identical help amongst those that partially supported the scheme, with solely three in ten supporting it and over half the voters supporting the BJP. Considering that half the voters absolutely help this scheme, these figures for Congress help turns into all of the extra vital.
Anger over Agniveer
Another burning problem within the Himachal Pradesh elections was the newly launched Agniveer scheme below which troopers can be recruited into the armed forces on a contractual foundation for a interval of 4 years. The scheme, which was introduced in 2022, led to violent protests throughout North India, together with Himachal Pradesh, as numerous youth from the State be part of the military yearly.
When requested their opinion on the Agniveer scheme, one in two voters in Himachal stated they opposed the military recruitment coverage absolutely or to some extent (Table 3). Only 19% had been in full help and 14% gave partial help to this scheme. Among those that absolutely opposed the scheme, 55% voted for the Congress. While amongst these in partial help, the vote was divided equally among the many BJP and the Congress (46% every). BJP did have an higher hand amongst those that absolutely supported the scheme (six in ten) and people who stated they considerably supported the scheme (55%).
A geographical evaluation of the help for the Agniveer scheme discovered that near three-fifth (57%) of the western area, which incorporates the Kangra district, opposed it. This area additionally has a excessive variety of individuals within the armed forces. The corresponding determine for the japanese area was 43%.
The most important criticism of the scheme has been its affect on the profession prospects of the youth who will discover it troublesome to achieve employment elsewhere after serving for 4 years. The findings of the survey additionally point out the identical as three of 5 individuals aged 18-25 disapproved of the scheme.
It is obvious from the survey findings that coverage missteps from the BJP, which adversely impacted key vote banks considerably, value the ruling social gathering and ended up benefiting the Congress which considerably efficiently tapped into the problems of the voters.
(The authors are researchers at Lokniti-CSDS)
Source: www.thehindu.com