Chemistry: Indian Communists and Indian National Congress – III

This is continuation to Chemistry: Indian Communists and IndianNational Congress – I and Chemistry: Indian Communists and Indian NationalCongress – II published earlier.

History exposes evidence to the fact that great nations face grave crises. Here is the list of grave crisis which great nations have faced in Twentieth Century:

a. In 1933, the United States was struck by the great depression, which exposed the fallacies of the market economy.

b. Military might of Japan was crushed by the United States during the Second World War.

c. At the start of the last decade of the Twentieth Century, the fragility of Socialism were exposed and it led to the eventual demise of the Soviet Union.

India always happened to be a vibrant democratic country where people from contrastingly different castes, creed, religion and race live together in peace and harmony. In Twentieth Century India also faced various grave crisis – The Partition, The Indo-China War and The Emergency of 21 months form 25 June 1975 to 21 March 1977.

The Emergency

In many ways the foundation for the emergency was laid when the Allahabad High Court set aside Indira Gandhi’s re-election to the Lok Sabha in 1971 on the grounds of electoral malpractices. This verdict, which came on 12th June 1975, was later challenged in the Supreme Court, which on 24th June 1975, granted a conditional stay to Mrs Gandhi, thereby allowing her to remain a member of parliament but disallowed her to take part in parliamentary proceedings. However, this was just the first step. The other, more significant reason for the imposition of emergency was the “JP movement”. Many regard Jayaprakash Narayan as “the Gandhi of Independent India”. In his entire political career he never contested an election. After the Allahabad High Court verdict, “JP”, as he was better known, gave the call for a “Total Revolution” and also demanded the resignation of Mrs

Jai Prakash Narayan

Gandhi. In fact on June 25, 1975, he announced a plan of daily demonstrations, not merely in Delhi, but also in every State capital and district headquarters until Indira Gandhi threw in the towel. He also appealed to the Army, the police and the bureaucracy “to refuse to obey Indira” and “abide by the Constitution instead”. His associate Morarji Desai went a step further. In an interview to an Italian journalist he said, “We intend to overthrow her, to force her to resign. For good…Thousands of us will surround her house and prevent her from going out…night and day.” Incidentally, Desai was once Deputy Prime Minister in her government.

On 25th June 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi imposed an emergency in the country. Fundamental Rights stood suspended, censorship was imposed on the press and prominent political leaders were arrested. The media was also not spared. Censorship was imposed on newspapers and barring a few, like The Indian Express, no other newspaper had the courage to defy the censorship orders. When the Delhi edition appeared on June 28, The Indian Express carried a blank first editorial and the Financial Express reproduced in large type Rabindranth Tagore’s poem “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high” concluding with the prayer “Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.”

It is said Jayaprakash Narayan’s famous address at the rally in Delhi’s Ramlila Maidan on June 25, 1975, was one of the main justifications forwarded by the Indira Gandhi administration to invoke Article 352(1). A recent article written by Santwana Bhattacharya published by The New Indian Express on 21^st Jun 2015 cites -

But actually the decision was taken, tacit support from political and a certain international quarters were obtained the preceding evening.

According to an eyewitness account given to The Sunday Standard, Indira Gandhi came to visit CPI veteran Bhupesh Gupta at his 5 Feroze Shah Road residence late in the evening. Gupta was her close associate and a Rajya Sabha member for an uninterrupted 29 years.

Gupta later shared with the Roys (Kalyan Roy, sitting CPI MP and his wife, Purabi Roy) one more reason for Indira’s visit—primarily to give certain instructions to Kalyan. This was at their MP quarters in North Avenue. “It began with my telling him, I knew why it took them so much time and why he had to shut the door so firmly. (Russian President Leonid) Brezhnev had to be taken on board. He looked up sharply and could not deny it,” Purabi adds, and apart from the “internal disturbances’’, the fleet build-up in the Bay of Bengal was also cited to secure the tacit support of the Soviet leadership.

After reading this recent article it will be unwise to term that Communist Party of India supported the Emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi, rather we need to rephrase it to ‘Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency in collusion with the Communist Party of India.’

CPI leaders believed they could turn Emergency into a communist revolution. Almost a decade of close cooperation with Indira Gandhi and the Congress seemed to be on the verge of bringing about a massive revolutionary breakthrough for the CPI. But the backlash was severe. Indira Gandhi went for general elections and CPI was still supporting her. The Congress lost the elections and emergency was lifted. The CPI suffered its worst ever losses in general elections. CPI(M) was able to hold on to its base in West Bengal, but, electoral support for the CPI took a nosedive.

Comparative Performance of the Communist Parties in Lok Sabha Elections of 1971 and 1977.

Party	Seats(1971)	Seats (1977)	% of Votes(1971)	% of Votes(1977)
CPI	23	07	4.73%	2.82%
CPM	25	22	5.12%	4.29%
Total	48	29	9.85%	7.11%

The result was a lot of soul searching for both the parties. Eventually both the parties regrouped and formed an alliance.

We started this series to take a look at the relationship between Indian Communists and Indian National Congress after Mr Gautam Deb, a Communist leader from West Bengal, said that party has lost its ground in West Bengal and hinted coalition with Congress to combat Trinamool Congress politically. Preceding to Deb’s statement Mr Sitaram Yechury, CPI(M) General Secretary said that inclusion of expelled party member Mr Somnath Chatterjee, ex-Speaker Lok Sabha, will increase the strength of CPI(M) in West Bengal. Even Mr Somnath Chatterjee seconded the opinion of Mr Deb.

On 22^nd June 2015, Sitaram Yechury has said that the party will not go against decision made at its party Congress of not forming alliance or front with the Congress. He however mentioned that the CPI(M) will continue to have issue-based political understandings with the Congress in the Parliament. If is it so, why are you not expelling your party member Mr Gautam Deb for giving a statement against party line? Or Mr Yechury, is it a statement keeping in mind that Kerala is also going for assembly election in 2016 where the fight is directly between Left Democratic Front (LDF) – the coalition of mainly the leftist parties led by Communist Party of India (Marxist) and United Democratic Front (UDF) – the coalition of parties led by the Indian National Congress. In 2011, LDF lost to UDF by 4 seats, thus the probability of winning in Kerala is more compared to West Bengal. So West Bengal Comrades have to sacrifice their desire for coalition with Congress for their Kerala Comrades!

Chemistry: Indian Communists and Indian National Congress – II

This is in continuation to our previous article Chemistry: Indian Communists and Indian National Congress – I.

Here in this article we would like to bring in front of our reader excerpts from a classified CIA file which was submitted on 7^th February 1962 and was declassified in May 2007, THE INDIAN COMMUNIST PARTY AND THE SINO-SOVIET DISPUTE (Reference Title: ESAU XVI-62). The entire report is readily available at www.foia.cia.gov and the link for the file is given as the 1^st reference in the Reference section.

INDO-CHINA WAR

CPI Started Betraying during China War

Nehru for the first time made a statement in Parliament substantiating the press reports of such Chinese incursions and armed clashes. This statement inflamed Indian public opinion; according to a private comment that day by the chief of the Communist Indian Press Agency, it confused and staggered the party members. During the next two days the CPI Central Secretariat, minus Ajoy Ghosh, held an emergency meeting on the problem, following which the party issued the first in what was to be a long and varied series of statements on the border, a vague declaration glossing over the question of border violations, holding (as the Chinese were to do) that the entire border has never been defined, making no mention of the MacMahonline, and urgently calling for negotiations. The CPI subsequently came under wide public attack as a result of its failure in this statement to take a clear-cut stand supporting the Indian government position.

Page 61

CPI planned to start Armed Rebellion

In Feb 1958 an official of the Soviet Embassy contacted CPI Leaders to renew the request to setup an underground organization. While Ajoy Ghosh refused, HK Surjeet and others privately decided that Ghosh was taking a complacent line and decided to reach out to the CPSU outside of party channels. The CPI did proceed to recruit a secret organization within the Indian Army.

In February 1959, Ajoy Ghosh in his report to the Central Executive Committee that China Russia insisted that the CPI must develop a standby apparatus capable of armed resistance, while intensifying penetration of Indian Military forces.

In the September Central Executive Committee meeting Ajoy Ghosh argued against the tendency to welcome Chinese military presence on Indian borders to justify a new militant line for the CPI. This was rejected by the hard left who argued that with the PLA now present along the Indian Border the Indian Party had a channel of support for Armed Operations and a potential liberator in the event of mass uprisings.

CPI Propaganda War and Ideological Support

On the border question, the leftists circulated at the CEC meeting a document upholding the Chinese case entirely , and claiming that the dispute was linked both with a shift in Indian foreign policy and Nehru's reactionary domestic tendency recently shown in Kerala. This document said that the government was using the dispute to distract the Indian people from the real issues and to create a situation where the CPI could be isolated and outlawed. It called on the party to "expose this game of  the Nehru government".

Ghosh, however, is reported to have proposed a "middle way" suggested to him in Moscow, whereby the CPI would state that acceptance of neither the MacMahon line nor the line shown on Chinese maps should be made a precondition for Sino-Indian negotiation. This formula, plus a statement of the CPI's conviction that socialist China could never commit aggression, formed the core of the CEC resolution eventually adopted on this subject and published on 25 September. This second CPI resolution on the border dispute aroused a great public uproar; the CPI's failure to place any blame upon China or to support any aspect of the Indian government's position was widely denounced as virtually treasonable.

History behind CPI Resolution criticizing Chinese Aggression!

On 11 July Ghosh left for one of his periodic visits to Moscow, to consult with CPSU leaders on a variety of subject......

 In early September Ghosh returned to India, bearing with him instructions reportedly given him by CPSU Presidium member Kuusinen to see that the CPI in its forthcoming Election Manifesto made some gesture in support of the Indian nationalist position on the border issue and in condemnation of the Chinese position. While it is undoubtedly true that the CPSU gave such advice primarily because it wished the CPI to make the most effective possible appeal to nationalist sentiment in the elections, the fact that this consideration had so much greater weight with Kuusinen in September than with Suslov in April strongly suggests that Moscow was at least partly influenced by the fact that it was about to launch a major offensive against the CCP and its adherents at the CPSU party congress the following month. This is also suggested by the extreme nature of the plank that Ghosh is reported to have attempted to get the CPI to adopt. During a Central Executive Committee meeting held from 11 to 17 September at which a draft Election Manifesto was prepared, a plank on the border issue was drawn up, reportedly by Ghosh personally, which was said to have condemned China as an aggressor, to have strongly supported the Indian position on the border, and to have specifically commended the Indian government study team for its report which "proved" the correctness of the Indian stand.

However, when during the following week Ghosh attempted to get the National Council to approve this plank, it was found that the expected rightist margin in the Council had disappeared, presumably partly because less than half the Council members were actually present, and partly because some who were willing to support moderate measures on domestic CPI policy were not willing to back an open condemnation of the Chinese. Three amendments to the plank were offered, one strengthening it, one leaving it essentially unchanged, and a third, from Ranadive, denying all support to the Indian position. During acrimonious debate Randive charged that Ghosh was reneging on an understanding reached at the CPI Congress not to discuss this issue, Sundarayya and Basavapunniah threatened to leave the meeting, and Sundarayya and Konar each warned that their respective organizations in Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal would not be bound by the plank if adopted. When the Ghosh CEC plank was submitted to a vote, it was defeated, 25-22. The issue was finally put off by instructing Ghosh to amend the draft in the light of the National Council discussion; and as a result of negotiations between the factions Bhupesh Gupta finally prepared the compromise version that was finally included in the Manifesto released to the press on 12 October. Despite press reports to the contrary, this version was not any advance on previous CPI positions. Exactly like the February 1961 National Council resolution, it affirmed the MacMahon line in the east and an unspecified "traditional frontier" in the west, supported India's title to all of Kashmir (and therefore implicitly her exclusive right to negotiate with the CPR for Ladakh), and called for a political settlement. Even this much, however, did not please the leftists, who had wished the CPI to continue to maintain the party's congress' policy of silence on this issue. The CCP was duly informed by the leftists of the details of the struggle over Ghosh's plank, as well as of the fact that Kuusinen had encouraged Ghosh to write that plank.

Note: These only show one thing very clearly. We often see separatists of Kashmir run to their bosses across the border in Pakistan to approve their stand on violence to be imparted. Indian communists & Indian policy were approved by the communist leaders in Moscow.  Other faction was in touch with China, without national interest keeping in mind.

CPI hoped to switch side to China During War

The left - faction members of the CPI Central Secretariat--Ranadive, Bhupesh Gupta, and particularly Basavapunniah--became increasingly active late in 1959 in promoting the line given them in Peiping throughout the CPI. In mid-November, Basavapunniah was reported by two sources to have repeated,to a meeting of CPI leaders concerned with creating an underground organization, his belief that the CPI lack of a contiguous foreign supply base during the Telengana revolt had now been remedied with the Chinese occupation of Tibet and other frontier areas. In late December he was said to have reiterated to a meeting of the Maharashtra State Council Mao's statement to Ghosh that Tibet, Sikkim, Bhutan, and the Northwest Frontier Agency are provinces peopled by the same race, that China had a historic right to these territories, that the MacMahone line was not valid, and that the Indian government's raising of "the bogey of Chinese aggression" had resulted from its realization that Nepal, Sikkim, Bhutan and India would be deeply affected by the social and economic revolution in Tibet.

CPI planned to sabotage DefenseServices

Dange claimed that the CPI had decided to establish a network of underground "combat cells" all over India during the next two years, to be used in case of need; and Jaipal Singh, the head of the CPI secret organization in the defenseservices, told a recruit after the congress that his organization was in full swing again after having been deactivated in May 1960 because of party factionalism and government attention to his activities. Nothing more has been heard since the congress about tile possibility of Chinese help to and guidance for these CPI underground activities ; there had been indications earlier in the year that Peiping had responded to the leftist plea for such help by predicating it upon leftist seizure of organizational control of the CPI at the party congress,

GOI Reply to Parliament on CPI Stand during Indo China War:

On November 13, 1962 while replying to the discussions in the Rajya Sabha, Lal Bahadur Shastri pointed out that Jyoti Basu equated India with China during the war and called the Chinese aggression as provoked by Indian statements and “across an imaginary line called MacMohan line”. But the Marxists were not merely satisfied with words. Kalimpong town had become a den of Chinese spies. Every move of the Indian army was monitored and reported to the enemy. Like in 1942, the communists played a major role in helping the Chinese.

Raman (ex-Boss of IB) in an Article "China's Interest Is Our Interest’ Published in Outlook writes:

After joining the IB in 1967, I went on a visit to Kolkata. Those were the days of the Cultural Revolution in China. The Marxists were not yet in power in West Bengal, but were very active. As I was travelling in a taxi from the Dum Dum airport to downtown, I saw the following slogan painted by the Marxists on the walls everywhere: "China's Chairman is our Chairman."

This article will continue ......

Reference

Þ     http://www.foia.cia.gov/sites/default/files/document_conversions/14/esau-15.pdf

Þ     http://outlookindia.com/full.asp?fodname=20070820&fname=ramanchina&sid=1

Chemistry: Indian Communists and Indian National Congress– I

Indian National Congress

From its foundation on 28 December 1885 until the time of independence of India on 15 August 1947, the Indian National Congress was the largest and most prominent Indian public organization, and central and defining influence of the Indian Independence Movement.Founded upon the authority of British civil servant Allan Octavian Hume, the Congress was created to form a platform for civic and political dialogue of educated Indians with the British Raj. After the First War of Indian Independence and the transfer of India from the East India Company to the British Empire, it was the goal of the Raj to support and justify its governance of India with the aid of English-educated Indians, who would be familiar and friendly to British culture and political thinking.

Communist Party of India

The Communist Party of India (CPI) has officially stated that it was formed in 25 December 1925 at the first Kanpur Party Conference. As per the version of CPI(M), the Communist Party of India was founded in Tashkent, Turkestan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on 17 October 1920, soon after the Second Congress of the Communist International. The founding members of the party were M.N. Roy, Evelyn Trent Roy (Roy's wife), AbaniMukherji, Rosa Fitingof (Abani's wife), Mohammad Ali (Ahmed Hasan), Mohammad ShafiqSiddiqui, Rafiq Ahmed of Bhopal and M.P.B.T. Acharya, and Comrade Sultan Ahmed Khan Tarin of NWFP. So,According to their declaration only,Party formed in Foreign land with 3 governing body members are Bengali,3 from Muslim community & 2 fireigners who were wives of their prominent leaders. Most of the members were from Minority communities. The CPI says that there were many communist groups formed by Indians with the help of foreigners in different parts of the world and the Tashkent group was only one of them.

Communist Party of India (Marxist)

Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated CPI(M) or CPM) is a communist party in India. The party emerged from a split from the Communist Party of India in 1964. The strength of CPI(M) is concentrated in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and Tripura. It is notable these 3 states were having maximum or notable presence of minorities. As of 2015, CPI(M) is leading the state government in Tripura. It also leads the Left Front coalition of leftist parties. As of 2013, CPI(M) claimed to have 1,065,406 members. CPI(M) is organised on the basis of democratic centralism, a principle conceived by Vladimir Lenin which entails democratic and open discussion on policy on the condition of unity in upholding the agreed upon policies. The highest body of the party is the Politburo.

Recently Mr Gautam Deb, a Communist leader from West Bengal, has given a statement where he admitted the declining strength of the Communists is West Bengal is no match to take Trinamool Congress (TMC) head-on in election and further advocated for coalition of Communists and Congress in West Bengal to fight TMC in assembly election which is due to be held on first half of 2016. In another statement Mr Somnath Chatterjee, ex-Speaker of Lok Sabha, endorsed Deb’s statement. With this recent development in West Bengal Politics, we would like to bring in front of our reader, the chemistry between these two political parties. In this article we will take a look at the stances of Communist Party of India and Indian National Congress at various historical events of India. At some they were at different poles and for many they were at same pole.

Quit India Movement

The Quit India Movement (Hindi: भारत छोड़ो आन्दोलन Bharat Chhodho Andolan), or the India August Movement (August Kranti), was a civil disobedience movement launched in India on 8 August 1942 by Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. The All-India Congress Committee proclaimed a mass protest demanding what Gandhi called "an orderly British withdrawal" from India. It was for the determined, which appears in his call to Do or Die, issued on 8 August at the Gwalior Tank Maidan in Mumbai in 1942. What was the precise Communist position at the Bombay AICC and how did the Congress leadership tackle them? At that time, the Communists had a small but active contingent in the AICC. Many of them did not go to the Bombay AICC; they knew by that time what its outcome would be. Just over a dozen of them were present at the AICC and the amendments they moved were mostly to avert the immediate unleashing of a mass campaign against the British Government but to forge unity between the Congress and the Muslim League so that they together might extract a national government as a prelude to freedom. They knew these amendments were fore-doomed. In his final speech Gandhiji congratulated the Communists for their courage to dissent, to “learn not to lose courage even when we are in a hopeless minority and the laughed at”. One can argue whether Gandhiji mocked or laughed at the communists by that sentence.

In the nationwide ‘Quit India’ struggle that followed the Bombay AICC, the Communists not only kept out but at many places actively intervened so that strikes did not disrupt production which might hamper war efforts. Their political campaign was totally ineffective and thoroughly isolated them from the entire segments of the public who came forward to participate in the ‘Quit India’ struggle.

On 5 May 1944, when Gandhiji came out of prison, the Communist Party leadership represented their position before him seeking to neutralise the angry complaints of many Congressmen against the Communists. One of the young Communists so sent to Gandhiji was Mohan Kumaramanglam who later on, in the late sixties, himself left the CPI and joined the Congress and became an important Minister under Indira Gandhi after the 1971 elections.

But these representations to Gandhiji did not help the Communists. When the bulk of the Congressmen were released from prison in 1945, there were angry attacks on the Communists at many places and the raiding of their office premises. What is significant is that this outburst of Congressmen was confined against Communists alone and not against those Congress leaders who had stayed away from the ‘Quit India’ movement. The formality of Communist expulsion from the Congress came towards the end of 1946. Two years later, the Socialists on their own left the Congress, thereby making it clear that nonconformists would have no place within the Congress.

This was the turning point within the premier party in the country. In five years, one found many of the heroes of the storm-centres of the ‘Quit India’ struggle of 1942 finding themselves in the company of the Communists—Nana Patil of Satara, AjoyMukherje of Tamluk, VirBahadur Singh in Balia-Azamgarh, and ArunaAsaf Ali herself.

During India’s Independence

Shripad Amrit Dange

Around the time that the British decided to transfer power to the Indians, the CPI found itself in a not very happy situation. For once their disassociation with the Quit India movement made them unpopular with the people. Secondly huge support that the Congress garnered ran contrary the CPI's portrayal of it as a mere bourgeoisie party.

Internationally also CPI found itself lost. At the start of World War II, the Communist International (Comintern) supported a policy of non-intervention, arguing that the war was an imperialist war between various national ruling classes. But when the Soviet Union itself was invaded on 22 June 1941, the Comintern changed its position to one of active support for the Allies. Stalin disbanded Comintern in 1943. It is inferred that the dissolution came about as Stalin wished to calm his World War II Allies (particularly Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Winston Churchill) not to suspect that the Soviet Union was pursuing a policy of trying to foment revolution in other countries.

The CPI was in a state of confusion and the Party clearly needed advice. In July 1947, P.C. Joshi, the then General Secretary, secured Shripad Amrit Dange's entry to USSR.

Andrei Zhdanov - Chairman
of the Soviet of the Union
(12 March 1946 - 25 February 1947)

On the day India got freedom, 15 August 1947 Dange was in Moscow talking to the Soviet leaders. Andrei Zhdanov and Mikhail Suslov, leading Soviet theorists of the period, participated in the 1947 talks with Dange. The following free and frank exchange between Dange and Zhdanov on the day after the India's Independence day, that is, on 16 August 1947, brings out the chaotic situation in which the Communist Party of India found itself at that historical juncture. Further Zhdanov asks Dange to explain why the Congress managed to strengthen its authority. Dange opines that during the war the Congress, taking into account the anti-English sentiments of the wide masses, opposed the English and by this action acquired a semblance of a national organisation fighting for the national sovereignty. The Communist Party during the war supported the allies, including the English and by this action weakened its influence as a lot of people could not correctly understand the position of the Party. A considerable part of the supporters of the Communist Party during the war shifted to the Congress.

Mikhail Suslov - Head of the
Department of Relations with
Foreign Communist parties

The Soviet leaders closely questioned Dange about the Congress. For years questions regarding what attitude should be taken toward the Congress would be debated inside the left parties in India. The following portion shows Dange's attitude towards the Congress and Muslim League, at that time.

Zhdanov: What is Nehru – a capitalist or a landowner?

Dange: A bourgeois.

Zhdanov: And Jinnah?

Dange: Also a bourgeois. He is an eminent advocate, has acquired a lot of money and has invested it in enterprises. Nehru also belongs to a family of eminent advocates and has invested his substantial savings in the Indian company of Tata...

This article will continue……

Reference

Þ     Later arrested, tried and sentenced to hard labour in the Moscow-Peshawar Conspiracy Case in 1922; see NWFP and Punjab Government Intelligence Reports, Vols 2 and 3, 1921-1931, at the IOR, British Library, London, UK

Þ     M.V. S. KoteswaraRao. Communist Parties and United Front – Experience in Kerala and West Bengal. Hyderabad: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 88-89

Þ     Ganguly, Basudev. S.A. Dange – A Living Presence at the Centenary Year in Banerjee, Gopal (ed.) S.A. Dange – A Fruitful Life. Kolkata: Progressive Publishers, 2002. p. 63.

Þ     M.V. S. KoteswaraRao. Communist Parties and United Front – Experience in Kerala and West Bengal. Hyderabad: Prajasakti Book House, 2003. p. 89

Þ     http://www.open.ac.uk/researchprojects/makingbritain/content/1942-quit-india-movement

Þ     Robert Service, Stalin. A biography. (Macmillan - London, 2004), pp 444-445

Þ     "Transcript" of the Discussion held on 16.VIII.1947 from 6 pm to 8 between Comrade A.A. Zhdanov with Com. ShripadAmritDange, Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party Of India.

Þ     This freedom is bogus.

Atal Pension Yojana (APY) – Details of the Scheme

1. Introduction

1.1 The Government of India is extremely concerned about the old age income security of the working poor and is focused on encouraging and enabling them to join the National Pension System (NPS). To address the longevity risks among the workers in unorganised sector and to encourage the workers in unorganised sector to voluntarily save for their retirement, who constitute 88% of the total labour force of 47.29 crore as per the 66th Round of NSSO Survey of 2011-12, but do not have any formal pension provision, the Government had started the Swavalamban Scheme in 2010-11. However, coverage under Swavalamban Scheme is inadequate mainly due to lack of guaranteed pension benefits at the age of 60.

1.2 The Government announced the introduction of universal social security schemes in the Insurance and Pension sectors for all Indians, specially the poor and the under-privileged, in the Budget for the year 2015-16. Therefore, it has been announced that the Government will launch the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), which will provide a defined pension, depending on the contribution, and its period. The APY will be focussed on all citizens in the unorganised sector, who join the National Pension System (NPS) administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA). Under the APY, the subscribers would receive the fixed minimum pension of Rs. 1000 per month, Rs. 2000 per month, Rs. 3000 per month, Rs. 4000 per month, Rs. 5000 per month, at the age of 60 years, depending on their contributions, which itself would be based on the age of joining the APY. The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years. Therefore, minimum period of contribution by any subscriber under APY would be 20 years or more. The benefit of fixed minimum pension would be guaranteed by the Government.

2. Benefit of APY

2.1 Fixed pension for the subscribers ranging between Rs. 1000 to Rs. 5000, if he joins and contributes between the age of 18 years and 40 years. The contribution levels would vary and would be low if subscriber joins early and increase if he joins late.

3. Eligibility for APY

3.1 Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is open to all bank account holders. The Central Government would also co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account, for a period of 5 years, i.e., from Financial Year 2015-16 to 2019-20, who join the NPS between the period 1st June, 2015 and 31st December, 2015 and who are not members of any statutory social security scheme and who are not income tax payers. However the scheme will continue after this date but Government Co-contribution will not be available.

3.2 The Government co-contribution is payable to eligible PRANs by PFRDA after receiving the confirmation from Central Record Keeping Agency at such periodicity as may be decided by PFRDA.

4. Age of joining and contribution period

4.1 The minimum age of joining APY is 18 years and maximum age is 40 years. The age of exit and start of pension would be 60 years. Therefore, minimum period of contribution by the subscriber under APY would be 20 years or more.

5. Focus of APY

5.1 Mainly targeted at unorganised sector workers.

6. Enrolment and Subscriber Payment

6.1 All bank account holders under the eligible category may join APY with autodebit facility to accounts, leading to reduction in contribution collection charges. The subscribers should keep the required balance in their savings bank accounts on the stipulated due dates to avoid any late payment penalty. Due dates for monthly contribution payment is arrived based on the deposit of first contribution amount. In case of repeated defaults for specified period, the account is liable for foreclosure and the GoI co-contributions, if any shall be forfeited. Also any false declaration about his/her eligibility for benefits under this scheme for whatsoever reason, the entire government contribution shall be forfeited along with the penal interest. For enrolment, Aadhaar would be the primary KYC document for identification of beneficiaries, spouse and nominees to avoid pension rights and entitlement related disputes in the long-term. The subscribers are required to opt for a monthly pension from Rs. 1000 - Rs. 5000 and ensure payment of stipulated monthly contribution regularly. The subscribers can opt to decrease or increase pension amount during the course of accumulation phase, as per the available monthly pension amounts. However, the switching option shall be provided once in year during the month of April. Each subscriber will be provided with an acknowledgement slip after joining APY which would invariably record the guaranteed pension amount, due date of contribution payment, PRAN etc.

7. Enrolment agencies

7.1 All Points of Presence (Service Providers) and Aggregators under Swavalamban Scheme would enrol subscribers through architecture of National Pension System. The banks, as POP or aggregators, may employ BCs/Existing non - banking aggregators, micro insurance agents, and mutual fund agents as enablers for operational activities. The banks may share the incentives received by them from PFRDA/Government, as deemed appropriate.

8. Operational Framework of APY

8.1 It is Government of India Scheme, which is administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority. The Institutional Architecture of NPS would be utilised to enrol subscribers under APY. The offer document of APY including the account opening form would be formulated by PFRDA.

9. Funding of APY

9.1 Government would provide (i) fixed pension guarantee for the subscribers; (ii) would co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower, to eligible subscribers; and (iii) would also reimburse the promotional and development activities including incentive to the contribution collection agencies to encourage people to join the APY.

10. Migration of existing subscribers of Swavalamban Scheme to APY

10.1 The existing Swavalamban subscriber, if eligible, may be automatically migrated to APY with an option to opt out. However, the benefit of five years of government Co-contribution under APY would not exceed 5 years for all subscribers. This would imply that if, as a Swavalamban beneficiary, he has received the benefit of government Co-Contribution of 1 year, then the Government co-contribution under APY would be available only 4 years and so on. Existing Swavalamban beneficiaries opting out from the proposed APY will be given Government co-contribution till 2016-17, if eligible, and the NPS Swavalamban continued till such people attained the age of exit under that scheme.

10.2 The existing Swavalamban subscribers between 18-40 years will be automatically migrated to APY. For seamless migration to the new scheme, the associated aggregator will facilitate those subscribers for completing the process of migration. Those subscribers may also approach the nearest authorised bank branch for shifting their Swavalamban account into APY with PRAN details.

10.3 The Swavalamban subscribers who are beyond the age of 40 and do not wish to continue may opt out the Swavalamban scheme by complete withdrawal of entire amount in lump sum, or may prefer to continue till 60 years to be eligible for annuities there under.

11. Penalty for default

11.1 Under APY, the individual subscribers shall have an option to make the contribution on a monthly basis. Banks are required to collect additional amount for delayed payments, such amount will vary from minimum Rs. 1 per month to Rs 10/- per month as shown below:

·         Rs. 1 per month for contribution upto Rs. 100 per month.

·         Rs. 2 per month for contribution upto Rs. 101 to 500/- per month.

·         Rs. 5 per month for contribution between Rs 501/- to 1000/- per month.

·         Rs. 10 per month for contribution beyond Rs 1001/- per month.

The fixed amount of interest/penalty will remain as part of the pension corpus of the subscriber.

11.2 Discontinuation of payments of contribution amount shall lead to following:

·         After 6 months account will be frozen.

·         After 12 months account will be deactivated.

·         After 24 months account will be closed.

12. Operation of additional amount for delayed payments

12.1 APY module will raise demand on the due date and continue to raise demand till the amount is recovered from the subscriber’s account.

12.2 The due date for recovery of monthly contribution may be treated as the first day /or any other day during the calendar month for each subscriber. Bank can recover amount any day till the last day of the month. It will imply that contribution are recovered as and when funds are available any point during the month.

12.3 Monthly contribution will be recovered on FIFO basis- earliest due instalment will recovered first along with the fixed amount of charges as mentioned above.

12.4 More than one monthly contribution can be recovered in month subject to availability of the funds. Monthly contribution will be recovered along with the monthly fixed due amount, if any. In all cases, the contribution is to be recovered along with the fixed charges. This will be banks’ internal process. The due amount will be recovered as and when funds are available in the account.

13. Investment of the contributions under APY

13.1 The amount collected under APY are managed by Pension Funds appointed by PFRDA as per the investment pattern specified by the Government. The subscriber has no option to choose either the investment pattern or Pension Fund.

14. Continuous Information Alerts to Subscribers

14.1 Periodical information to the subscribers regarding balance in the account, contribution credits etc. will be intimated to APY subscribers by way of SMS alerts. The subscribers will have the option to change the non – financial details like nominee’s name, address, phone number etc whenever required.

14.2 All subscribers under APY remain connected on their mobile so that timely SMS alerts can be provided to them at the time of making their subscription, autodebit of their accounts and the balance in their accounts.

15. Exit and pension payment

15.1 Upon completion of 60 years, the subscribers will submit the request to the associated bank for drawing the guaranteed monthly pension.

15.2 Exit before 60 years of age is not permitted, however, it is permitted only in exceptional circumstances, i.e., in the event of the death of beneficiary or terminal disease.

16. Age of Joining, Contribution Levels, Fixed Monthly Pension and Return of Corpus to the nominee of subscribers

16.1 The Table of contribution levels, fixed minimum monthly pension to subscribers and his spouse and return of corpus to nominees of subscribers and the contribution period is given below. For example, to get a fixed monthly pension between Rs. 1,000 per month and Rs. 5,000 per month, the subscriber has to contribute on monthly basis between Rs. 42 and Rs. 210, if he joins at the age of 18

years. For the same fixed pension levels, the contribution would range between Rs. 291 and Rs. 1,454, if the subscriber joins at the age of 40 years.

Table of contribution levels, fixed monthly pension of Rs. 1,000 per month to subscribers and his spouse and return of corpus to nominees of subscribers and the contribution period under Atal Pension Yojana

Table of contribution levels, fixed monthly pension of Rs. 2,000 per month to subscribers and his spouse and return of corpus to nominees of subscribers and the contribution period under Atal Pension Yojana

Table of contribution levels, fixed monthly pension of Rs. 3,000 per month to subscribers and his spouse and return of corpus to nominees of subscribers and the contribution period under Atal Pension Yojana

Table of contribution levels, fixed monthly pension of Rs. 4,000 per month to subscribers and his spouse and return of corpus to nominees of subscribers and the contribution period under Atal Pension Yojana

Table of contribution levels, fixed monthly pension of Rs. 5,000 per month to subscribers and his spouse and return of corpus to nominees of subscribers and the contribution period under Atal Pension Yojana