Kerala is the only state where government employees retire at the age of 56. …reports Asian Lite News
The Kerala government is mulling to increase the retirement age of government employees to 57 years.
Sources said that talks between various government stakeholders are underway and an announcement is likely to be made during the New Year when the state budget for the new fiscal will be presented in February by State Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal.
Kerala is the only state where government employees retire at the age of 56. During the tenure of Oommen Chandy (2011-16) to standardise the retirement age of all employees, it was decided to increase the retirement age from 55 to 56 years.
As per a recent study by a committee, the state government will be able to divert more than Rs 5,000 crores if the retirement age is increased by one year as the retirement benefits including gratuity and end-of-service benefits for capital spending.
If the state government is able to go ahead with the proposed plan for the government employees, it will be a major image booster for the CPI-M government as state government employees are unhappy with the Vijayan government on the issue of increase in DA arrears, which at present is around 19 per cent.
With the local bodies poll due in the second half of 2025 and the Assembly polls scheduled to take place in April 2026, the step is seen as a major step by Vijayan-led government.
Bypoll underway
A day after the high voltage campaign for bypolls to Kerala’s Palakkad Assembly seat ended, the three political fronts — LDF, NDA and UDF — on Tuesday claimed that victory will be theirs on November 23 when the votes are counted.
Incidentally, Palakkad is one of the very few Assembly constituencies among the 140 in the state, where the BJP finished second in the 2021 polls. The by-election campaign witnessed aggression from each side to outdo each other.
The election was forced upon the electorate after sitting Congress legislator Shafi Parambil contested the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency where he won after trouncing one of CPI(M)’s most popular faces, sitting legislator and former Health Minister K.K. Shailaja.
All three political fronts — Left Democratic Front (LDF), National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and United Democratic Front (UDF) — witnessed internal bickering over the candidate selection.
Of the blocks first was the Congress party which decided to field their popular face and Youth Congress president Rahul Mamkootathil, who is not from the district and soon came expression of displeasure from a few sections. The Congress lost its leader Dr P. Sarin who walked into the CPI(M) camp and was instantly fielded as the Left Independent candidate.
Things were no different in the BJP too. After a round of discussions and debate, much against the wishes of a section, the BJP decided to field a local leader and a familiar face during election time, Krishnakumar.