Ministry Of Personnel Refutes Rumours About Reducing Age Of Retirement

A website called The Sen Times recently published an article claiming that the Central Government is about to reduce the age of retirement of its employees form 60 to 50. The article also mentions that while such employees will get their pension payment order, the retirement benefits will only be provided after the post-COVID-19 economic crisis period.

Refuting this claim, Jitendra Singh, the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, said on Sunday that there is no such move by the Centre.

"No move to reduce the retirement age of government employees, nor such a proposal discussed or contemplated at any level in the government," he said, according to an official press release.

The Press Information Bureau's Fact Check wing also put out a tweet to refute the claim made by the website.

The article by The Sen Times was sent to BOOM's helpline number, with many questioning the authenticity of the claims being made. The article mentions recession and social distancing as the two major reasons for the Centre to reduce the retirement age to 50. All the claims were attributed to an official source.

According to the article, the reduction in retirement age was aimed at "saving the life of older employees in the angle of social distancing." It also claims that there are "studies that show that Indian people reaching the age of 50 years old tend to suffer from a decline of cognitive and physical abilities." However, we could not find any study that established such a pattern.

As the article went viral, Rajya Sabha member Subramaniam Swamy also took to Twitter to express his apprehensions about the possibility of such a move.

According to the Wikipedia page of The Sen Times, it is a bureaucracy newspaper run by the Sen Times Group, headquartered in Varanasi. BOOM reached out to the website for a comment, and the article will be updated if and when there is a response.