Note4Students
From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :
Prelims level : National Pension Scheme (NPS)
Mains level : Benefits and coverage of Pension Schemes in India
- Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has now permitted Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) to enroll in National Pension Scheme (NPS) at par with Non-Resident Indians.
National Pension Scheme (NPS)
- NPS is a government-sponsored pension scheme. It was launched in January 2004 for government employees.
- It was extended to all citizens of Indian on voluntary basis from May 2009 and to corporates in December 2011 and to Non-Resident Indians in October 2015.
- PFRDA is the statutory Authority established by an enactment of the Parliament, to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the NPS and pension schemes to which this Act applies.
- The scheme allows subscribers to contribute regularly in a pension account during their working life.
- On retirement, subscribers can withdraw a part of the corpus in a lumpsum and use the remaining corpus to buy an annuity to secure a regular income after retirement.
Who can join NPS?
- Any Indian citizen between 18 and 60 years can join NPS.
- The only condition is that the person must comply with know your customer (KYC) norms.
- An NRI can join NPS. However, the account will be closed if there is a change in the citizenship status of the NRI.
- Now, any Indian citizen, resident or non-resident and OCIs are eligible to join NPS till the age of 65 years.
Back2Basics
Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI)
- After multiple efforts by leaders across the Indian political spectrum, a pseudo-citizenship scheme was established, the “Overseas Citizenship of India”, commonly referred to as the OCI card.
- The Constitution of India does not permit full dual citizenship.
- The OCI card is effectively a long-term visa, with restrictions on voting rights and government jobs.
- An OCI is however entitled to some benefits such as a multiple-entry, multi-purpose life-long visa to visit India.
- They are exempted from police reporting for any length of stay in the country.
- They are also granted all rights in parity with NRIs except, the right to acquisition of agricultural or plantation properties.