The following
news item on retirement age is published in www.ndtv.com
” … The Narendra
Modi government had to field its crisis managers on Thursday to end what it
called a “strong misinformation campaign,” which it feared could hurt the
ruling BJP’s electoral interests in the Delhi elections due soon.
The trouble was caused
by a WhatsApp message that was being circulated fast and furious. It purported
to reproduce a government reply in Parliament on whether it was planning to
lower the retirement age of central government employees from 60 to 58 years.
The message alleged
that the government had said in the Rajya Sabha that it would be tabling a bill
proposing a cut in the retirement age in the Budget Session in March 2015.
Three ministers issued
strong denials in quick succession, even as the government ordered an
investigation into the origins of the message. Finance minister Arun Jaitley
told NDTV, “These are all baseless rumours and there is no question of altering
the retirement age of central government employees. It is 60 years and will
remain 60.”
Parliamentary Affairs
Minister M Venkaiah Naidu and Minister of State for Personnel Jitendra Singh
too denied any such proposal.
A study of the message
circulated on WhatsApp confirmed that someone has altered the question posed by
a Rajya Sabha MP on December 11 and the minister’s reply, meticulously keeping
the format of a written reply in Parliament intact.
To ensure a quick
burial for what could have burgeoned into a major headache for the government,
the department of personnel and training also posted the government’s actual
reply online and issued a press release to say that there was no proposal to
lower the retirement age.
Source : www.ndtv.com
