Congress slams BJP over EPFO rule change, says salaried people are punished

Attacking the Modi government over the change in EPFO rules the opposition on Wednesday alleged that salaried people are being punished for the Modi governments mishandling of the economy and urged Labour and Employment Minister Mansukh Mandaviya to scrap the draconian provisionsThe opposition hit out at the government over the specific change to the period for availing premature final settlement of EPF from the existing 2 months to 12 months and final pension withdrawal from 2 months to 36 monthsThey also slammed the provision of earmarking 25 per cent of the contributions in the members account as minimum balance to be maintained by the member at all timesIn a post on X Congress MP Manickam Tagore said the Modi governments new Employees Provident Fund Organisation EPFO rules are nothing short of crueltyThe Modi Govtrsquos new EPFO rules are nothing short of crueltyPensioners and joblosers are being punished for needing their own savingsPrime Minister narendramodi ji mdash this is the time to intervene and stop mansukhmandviya from destroying peoplersquos lives Under the newhellipmdash Manickam Tagore B manickamtagore October 15 2025Pensioners and joblosers are being punished for needing their own savings Prime Minister Narendra Modi ji this is the time to intervene and stop Mansukh Mandaviya from destroying peoples livesUnder the new EPFO decisions You can withdraw PF only after 12 months of unemployment earlier 2 months Pension can be withdrawn only after 36 months earlier 2 months 2537 of your own EPF will be locked forever he claimedWho benefits from this Mr Modi Certainly not the workers Imagine a worker who loses his job or a retiree waiting for years to access his hardearned savings while the Govt writes off lakhs of crores for its crony friends This is not reform this is robbery Tagore saidHe claimed Labour Minister Mandaviyas decisions will finish the lives of pensioners who depend on EPF to survivePrime Minister please intervene immediatelyDont let bureaucratic cruelty destroy the dignity of Indias working class he saidTMC MP Saket Gokhale said the new EPFO rules introduced by the Modi government are shocking and ridiculousIt is open theft of salaried peoples own money Heres what the new rules say Earlier on losing your job you could withdraw your EPF balance after 2 months of unemployment That minimum period has now shockingly been increased to 1 year Basically for withdrawing your own money you need to now be unemployed for a full year as opposed to only 2 months Gokhale saidYou can withdraw the pension component of your EPF ONLY after 36 months ie 3 years of unemployment Earlier you could do it after two months And this is the worst part Of your EPF balance 2537 cannot be withdrawn and will remain locked infor your entire career until you retire he saidImagine if a person gets laid off or loses their job They still have bills and EMIs to pay But the Modi government will not allow you to withdraw your own money for a full year Even after a year you can only withdraw 7537 of your savings and that too only if youre still unemployed he saidBesides EPF has been made mandatory which means salaried persons cannot escape this draconian monthly robbery by the government of their own income he claimedHow is a normal middleclass person expected to survive like this he askedGokhale further asked how will a salaried person who loses their job meet their expenses for a full year when their EPF withdrawal is blockedIt is clear that the Modi government is expecting a drastic rise in unemployment due to its terrible economic policies These new rules locking peoples EPF are the signs of a panicked govt trying to prevent a run on the EPFO Salaried people are being punished for the Modi governments mishandling of the economy the TMC MP saidHe urged Mandviya to scrap these new draconian EPF rules immediatelyCongress spokesperson Shama Mohamed also demanded a roll back of the rulesNew EPFO rules introduced by the narendramodi government in the name of ldquosimplificationrdquo are nothing short of looting the hardearned money of the salaried middle classmdash 2537 of the contributorrsquos amount cannot be withdrawn and will remain locked until retirementmdash The periodhellipmdash Dr Shama Mohamed drshamamohd October 15 2025New EPFO rules introduced by the Narendra Modi government in the name of simplification are nothing short of looting the hardearned money of the salaried middle class 2537 of the contributors amount cannot be withdrawn and will remain locked until retirement The period for availing premature final EPF pension withdrawal has been increased to 36 months up from 2 months earlierFor any partial withdrawal the waiting period has been extended to 1 year instead of 2 months earlier The Modi government should immediately roll back these rules she said on XUnemployed members of retirement fund body EPFO will now be able to avail final settlement or full withdrawal of funds from provident fund as well as pension accounts after 12 months and 36 months of unemployment respectivelyThe decision to amend the scheme was taken by apex decision making body of the Employees Provident Fund Organisation EPFO the Central Board of Trustees headed by Mandaviya in a meeting held on MondayPresently the scheme provides for withdrawal of all funds from the provident fund as well as pension account after two months of continuous unemploymentA senior official explained that the decision was taken to ensure social security benefits to the formal sector workers in the country who generally exit the ambit of the EPFO after two months of unemploymentHe explained that most of these unemployed youth are required to enrol again with the EPFO when they get another jobs and they lose chances of getting pension and other benefits as the account becomes pensionable only after combined service of 10 years or moreThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no 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