The fallen Awami League government launched the Universal Pension Scheme with much elaboration on August 17, 2023. However, despite wide promotion until August 2024, the desired response to the pension scheme has not been achieved.
On August 5, 2024, following a strong movement from students and the public, the autocratic government collapsed. Six months have passed since then, but no new registrations have occurred during this period. Subscription fees are also due.
Among the four schemes, the “Probash” scheme, intended for expatriates, attracted the least interest.
In total, about Tk 100 crore has been deposited across all schemes so far. Given the targets and the current situation, the Universal Pension Scheme has become a failed initiative.
According to sources, from August 2023 to August 2024, around 4,00,000 people registered for the Universal Pension Scheme. Meanwhile, there are more than 1.4 million government employees.
On the other hand, there are nearly 3.3 million garment workers in the country, who were the primary target group for the pension scheme. Yet, a survey reveals that nearly 99 per cent of them did not register for the scheme.
The Bangladesh Institute of Labour Studies (BILS) recently conducted a survey, which revealed that 90.6 per cent of workers are not interested in this scheme. Moreover, 6.7 per cent of workers believe that the scheme is not a sustainable long-term pension plan, while 2.7 per cent are unaware of it.
Despite spending a significant amount of money on promotions, the government has failed to inform private sector employees about the benefits of the scheme, although they were the primary target group.
Sources said that after the fall of the Awami League government, the project has slowed down even further. Due to a lack of trust in the previous government and insufficient promotion, many people remain unaware of the benefits of the scheme. Experts have called for a new promotional effort.
According to the National Pension Authority's Annual Report for 2023-24, by June 2024, 3,38,941 people had registered under the four schemes: Probash, Progoti, Surakkha, and Samata. By October 2024, the number had reached 4,00,000.
However, no new registrations have occurred since November last year.
The Universal Pension Scheme was introduced to provide retirement benefits to people from all sectors, including expatriates, private sector employees, business owners, and low-income groups, with four categories under the scheme.
However, after more than a year and a half, many people are still unaware of the advantages and disadvantages of these schemes. The Probash scheme, in particular, has been the most unsuccessful, with only 913 registrations.
The highest number of registrations has been in the Samata scheme, intended for low-income individuals, with 2,85,882 registrations. The Progoti and Surakkha schemes have seen 22,410 and 63,184 registrations, respectively.
When asked about this, National Pension Authority Member Golam Mustafa told Bangladesh Pratidin that a lack of trust regarding this scheme emerged among the people after the fall of the previous corrupted regime.
He further mentioned that the promotional activities have been interrupted. “After Eid, we plan to launch new promotional programmes, which we hope will rekindle people's interest,” he said.
Regarding the unpaid subscription fees, he explained that it might be due to a decrease in people's earnings.
Translated & edited by Fariha Nowshin Chinika
