New Delhi, June 18 (IANS) Central government employees covered under the Unified Pension Scheme will now be eligible for retirement and death gratuity benefits, Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions, Dr Jitendra Singh, announced on Wednesday.

The minister said that the move addresses a significant demand of government staff and brings parity in retirement benefits. The new provision reflects the government’s commitment to ensure social security for all categories of employees under the National Pension System, he explained.

Dr Jitendra Singh outlined the achievements of the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions over the past 11 years, highlighting a series of reforms aimed at simplifying governance, empowering citizens, and humanising administration.

Speaking at a commemorative event at the National Media Centre here, the minister categorised the ministry’s work into four major areas that reflected the changing face of governance under the Modi government.

“For the first time since Independence, a government has taken pride in doing away with redundant rules rather than creating new ones,” he said, citing the repeal of over 1,600 outdated provisions – many of them colonial-era legacies – as a strong message of trust in citizens, particularly India’s youth. The decision to make job interviews non-evaluative for certain categories, announced from the Red Fort by the Prime Minister and implemented nationwide by January 2016, was flagged as a key move towards fairness and transparency in recruitment.

Dr Singh underscored that several of the Ministry’s reforms went beyond administrative convenience and carried broader socio-cultural messages. Measures such as the amendments to the Prevention of Corruption Act sought to balance accountability with protection for well-performing officials, while changes in how cases of unfair means in examinations are handled have been aimed at protecting students from the fallout of organised cheating rackets.

He said that human-centric reforms formed the third pillar of the Ministry’s efforts, while recounting how several changes were driven by direct experiences of insensitivity in existing rules. The introduction of the digital life certificate for pensioners, reforms in family pension norms to include divorced and separated daughters, and extending maternity leave to stillbirth cases were some of the examples he shared.

“We combined human concern with technology to create solutions that respect the dignity of individuals,” he said, recalling how over 19,000 long-pending promotions were expedited to bring relief to officials who had served without timely career progression. These measures, he said, reflected an approach that viewed policy through the lens of empathy.

Highlighting innovation as the fourth key area, the Minister said that several governance reforms have been infused with out-of-the-box thinking and technological adaptability. The establishment of the Capacity Building Commission and the rollout of the iGOT-Karmayogi platform were mentioned as game-changers in preparing civil servants for real-world challenges.

The CPGRAMS grievance redressal portal, which now handles over 26 lakh complaints annually with a 95-96 per cent disposal rate, was cited as a case of how citizen expectations have evolved in response to responsive governance.

“We have moved from red tape to real-time, from file-pushing to feedback-based policy,” Dr Singh said, noting that these reforms mark a significant shift in the governance ethos of New India.

During the press conference, he also released a set of key publications and digital initiatives. These included the 11-year achievement booklets of the DoPT, the DARPG, and the DoPPW, offering a comprehensive overview of reforms and milestones across the three departments.

The minister also unveiled the Guidelines for the Special Campaign for Family Pensioners’ Grievances, a Compendium of Circulars covering the period from August 2024 to June 2025, and a set of circulars related to the Central Civil Services rules. In a move to strengthen capacity building within the system, Dr Singh also virtually launched the Sevottam Training Modules, aimed at institutionalising excellence in public service delivery.

–IANS

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