A social media post accompanying a news clip speculating that the central government would soon reduce retirement age of employees is being widely circulated. The Hindi title of the news clip loosely translates to ‘government employees will be retired after 33 years of service or at the age of 60 years.’ The viral clip is reportedly published by Amar Ujala and carries the date as 01 April 2023. Through this article, let’s fact-check the claim made in the post.
Claim: Central government considering lowering retirement age of employees says a news clip
Fact: Amar Ujala published the news back in September 2019. However, the government on multiple occasions denied the claims stating that no such proposal of changing the retirement age of the employees is under consideration. This old news clip is being shred now by digitally editing the date, as if it is a recent news clip. Hence the claim made in the post is FALSE.
Old news:
The viral clip shared in the post is very old, most likely published in September 2019. Online edition of Amar Ujala carrying similar news was published on 17 September 2019.
Online blogs published the same news clip back in September 2019.
The original news clip did not carry any date. Comparison of the actual clip with that the recently viral clip establishes that the viral news clip is not a recent report and that the date carried on the clip is digitally edited, to show it as a recent clip.
Government denied the news:
Back in September 2019, multiple news agencies reported the same news, speculating about the government’s decision of lowering retirement age. These news reports can be viewed here and here.
However, the government did not propose any such change in retirement age since then. Refuting all these claims, the central government has clarified in Rajya Sabha, stating that there is no such proposal to reduce retirement age below 60 years.
As the news went viral on social media, PIB through a tweet, sharing the same news clip denied the claim and rated the news as false in 2019. The tweet clarified that no such announcement has been made by the Government of India.
No change in Government’s stand:
Later on multiple occasions, the central government reiterated its stand of not changing the retirement age of the central government employees.
Responding to question in March 2022, the government has clarified that there is no such proposal under consideration of the Government to increase the retirement age of Central Government employees
In fact, in September 2022, EPFO, the retirement body, proposed raising the retirement age to ease pressure on pension funds. EPFO was of the view that retirement age should be changed relative to life expectancy. It further argued that the pension system could be made more robust if the retirement age of the employee is increased.
However, as of today, the central government has not made any changes with respect to the retirement age of central government employees. Further, we could not find any reports stating that central government is contemplating lowering the retirement age.
To sum it up, this news clip about government lowering the retirement age is very old. Government refuted the claim.
