In a welfare state, the government is expected to support all its senior citizens by providing pension. Ideally, this should be a universal obligation. Unfortunately, in our country it is only a privileged few in the organised sector that receive what can be considered a decent pension. By introducing the new pension scheme, the government has tried to bring all categories of employees under the pension umbrella. If it is not able to provide pension to all its senior citizens, the least it can do is exempt from taxation all forms of earnings that fall under the “pension” category. All earnings earned through pension schemes operated by insurance companies and mutual funds should also be exempted from taxation.
P V Rajeev New Delhi
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