Centre, other states should follow Rajasthan and revive old pension scheme for employees: Cong

All elected representatives are given smart phones by the government to enable them to function efficiently.

The Congress on Friday said the party-led government in Rajasthan has shown the way forward for reviving the old pension scheme for employees and requested the Centre and other states to follow suit.

Congress general secretary and senior spokesperson Ajay Maken said government employees had been demanding restoration of the old pension scheme which was discontinued a few years ago.

He accused the BJP of being anti-employee and alleged that the NDA government in 2003 did not set up the Pay Commission for employees and the present NDA regime has said that there will be no further Pay Commissions.

Maken, who is the party's in-charge for Rajasthan, said the state government has guaranteed 125 days of employment for urban poor under the job scheme MGNREGA and asked other states to do the same.

He also praised the state's decision to provide 50 units of free power to all.

Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra said the state government has also decided to provide 1.33 lakh women with smart phones. It has also doubled the compensation amount of accident insurance from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.

Asked about the controversy over providing MLAs with iPhones, Maken said women are also being given smart phones and this is a small issue.

''When the BJP came to power iPads were given to them. All elected representatives are given smart phones by the government to enable them to function efficiently. All MPs were also given phones in the past to enable them to function effectively....Rajasthan Assembly has become paperless and all materials will be given online...This is not a big issue,'' he said.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)