Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The proposal to extend the retirement age of Government officials to 62 from 59 and for freedom fighters to 65 from 60 has stirred public criticism from almost all quarters although welcomed by bureaucracy now controlling the government.
Sources said, the Ministry of Public Administration has already finalised the draft proposal and it is now set to send the file to the Cabinet Division for its approval.
The government appears to be advancing the case on political ground after the phenomenal pay hike to appease the bureaucracy to give unequivocal support to stay in power over the years.
But it is trying to justify the case saying that life expectancy has phenomenally increased and the country needs trained and experienced manpower to run an ever growing government and an expansionary economy.
Early retirement will only leave the potentials of the trained manpower to remain largely unutilized. But those opposing the move believe that longer stay in old age in public service will make the officials idle and unproductive.
Moreover, they will essentially block the entry of new officers to government cadre services denying new job creation and depriving the nation of necessary dynamism in public administration.
Experts have given mixed reaction to the government move for extending retirement age of public servants by two years may be placed before the Cabinet for approval soon.
“It has both positive and negative impact of the public administration. But I do not support an in general retirement age increase,” Dr Mirza AB Azizul Islam, former Finance Adviser to the caretaker government, told The New Nation on Monday.
He said, an in general retirement age increase may not be fruitful for the administration rather it can be a burden for it by harming the much needed dynamism of the administration.
“Promotion will get blocked for junior officers as a result of retirement increase. This may create frustration to them resulting in indiscipline in the public service,” Mirza Aziz said.
Narrating positive impact of the retirement age, he said, it will help deferred pension payment of the public servants giving the government a relief from the financial burden for the time being.
He, however, suggested that the government can increase the retirement age of public servants by one more year considering the rising life expectancy in the country.
The country’s reproduction and mortality rates are declining which means the number of youths is increasing and their employment would be a big challenge for the country.
Life expectancy in the country rose to 70.7 years in 2014 from 70.4 a year before, says a new survey of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
According to the survey, women’s life expectancy is higher than that of men. On average, women now live 71.6 years while men’s life expectancy is 69.1 years.
Akbar Ali Khan, a former Cabinet Secretary, said there are good and bad sides of extending the retirement age of public servants.
“It is a good move considering the improvement in people’s average life expectancy and health status. However, it will squeeze scope for new recruitment and promotion in public services, he said.
Welcoming the move, M Hafizuddin Khan, another former adviser to the caretaker government, said, it would benefit the state that would get more service from its experienced employees. When asked, he said, it will not create obstacle to fresh recruitments in public services as the size of the administrative machinery has got bigger with the rise in population.
Commenting on the issue, Zaid Bakht, a noted economist of the country, said, why retirement age of public servants cannot be extended considering that judges and teachers already saw an increase in their retirement age.
He said some problems may arise in the first couple of years in case of fresh recruitment, but those would go away. The extension of retirement age could put a little pressure on the revenue budget for increase of salaries of employees at the higher level. Zaid Bakht is now serving as the Chairman of Agrani Bank.
“The move will squeeze the employment opportunity of unemployed youths in the country. While the government cannot provide jobs to the youth, they are going for the rehabilitation of people who have almost completed 30 years of service,” a former Cabinet Secretary told The New Nation yesterday on condition of anonymity.
Describing the decision as an unfortunate, he said: “When a large number of educated youths are waiting for jobs, the government shouldn’t have raised the retirement age of its staff.”
A high official of the Public Administration Ministry said, the number of government employees is more than 14 lakh. Nearly 50,000 to 60,000 government staff go into retirement every year, while about 45,000 fresh recruitments are made a year.
“When the average longevity of people has gone up to 70.7 years, we should not object to employees’ retirement age being raised to 60 provided that educated youth are given jobs. Thousands of posts are lying vacant and a large number of youths are unemployed.”
The ruling AL government earlier increased the retirement age of the public servants to 59 years from 57 years and the freedom fighter public servant will enjoy one more year in job before going on retirement.
Retirement age of public servants was fixed at 57 after the country’s independence when average life expectancy was 46 years. The retirement age of public servants is 62 years in India, Pakistan and the USA, and it is 65 years in the UK.
The proposal to extend the retirement age of Government officials to 62 from 59 and for freedom fighters to 65 from 60 has stirred public criticism from almost all quarters although welcomed by bureaucracy now controlling the government.
Sources said, the Ministry of Public Administration has already finalised the draft proposal and it is now set to send the file to the Cabinet Division for its approval.
The government appears to be advancing the case on political ground after the phenomenal pay hike to appease the bureaucracy to give unequivocal support to stay in power over the years.
But it is trying to justify the case saying that life expectancy has phenomenally increased and the country needs trained and experienced manpower to run an ever growing government and an expansionary economy.
Early retirement will only leave the potentials of the trained manpower to remain largely unutilized. But those opposing the move believe that longer stay in old age in public service will make the officials idle and unproductive.
Moreover, they will essentially block the entry of new officers to government cadre services denying new job creation and depriving the nation of necessary dynamism in public administration.
Experts have given mixed reaction to the government move for extending retirement age of public servants by two years may be placed before the Cabinet for approval soon.
“It has both positive and negative impact of the public administration. But I do not support an in general retirement age increase,” Dr Mirza AB Azizul Islam, former Finance Adviser to the caretaker government, told The New Nation on Monday.
He said, an in general retirement age increase may not be fruitful for the administration rather it can be a burden for it by harming the much needed dynamism of the administration.
“Promotion will get blocked for junior officers as a result of retirement increase. This may create frustration to them resulting in indiscipline in the public service,” Mirza Aziz said.
Narrating positive impact of the retirement age, he said, it will help deferred pension payment of the public servants giving the government a relief from the financial burden for the time being.
He, however, suggested that the government can increase the retirement age of public servants by one more year considering the rising life expectancy in the country.
The country’s reproduction and mortality rates are declining which means the number of youths is increasing and their employment would be a big challenge for the country.
Life expectancy in the country rose to 70.7 years in 2014 from 70.4 a year before, says a new survey of Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS).
According to the survey, women’s life expectancy is higher than that of men. On average, women now live 71.6 years while men’s life expectancy is 69.1 years.
Akbar Ali Khan, a former Cabinet Secretary, said there are good and bad sides of extending the retirement age of public servants.
“It is a good move considering the improvement in people’s average life expectancy and health status. However, it will squeeze scope for new recruitment and promotion in public services, he said.
Welcoming the move, M Hafizuddin Khan, another former adviser to the caretaker government, said, it would benefit the state that would get more service from its experienced employees. When asked, he said, it will not create obstacle to fresh recruitments in public services as the size of the administrative machinery has got bigger with the rise in population.
Commenting on the issue, Zaid Bakht, a noted economist of the country, said, why retirement age of public servants cannot be extended considering that judges and teachers already saw an increase in their retirement age.
He said some problems may arise in the first couple of years in case of fresh recruitment, but those would go away. The extension of retirement age could put a little pressure on the revenue budget for increase of salaries of employees at the higher level. Zaid Bakht is now serving as the Chairman of Agrani Bank.
“The move will squeeze the employment opportunity of unemployed youths in the country. While the government cannot provide jobs to the youth, they are going for the rehabilitation of people who have almost completed 30 years of service,” a former Cabinet Secretary told The New Nation yesterday on condition of anonymity.
Describing the decision as an unfortunate, he said: “When a large number of educated youths are waiting for jobs, the government shouldn’t have raised the retirement age of its staff.”
A high official of the Public Administration Ministry said, the number of government employees is more than 14 lakh. Nearly 50,000 to 60,000 government staff go into retirement every year, while about 45,000 fresh recruitments are made a year.
“When the average longevity of people has gone up to 70.7 years, we should not object to employees’ retirement age being raised to 60 provided that educated youth are given jobs. Thousands of posts are lying vacant and a large number of youths are unemployed.”
The ruling AL government earlier increased the retirement age of the public servants to 59 years from 57 years and the freedom fighter public servant will enjoy one more year in job before going on retirement.
Retirement age of public servants was fixed at 57 after the country’s independence when average life expectancy was 46 years. The retirement age of public servants is 62 years in India, Pakistan and the USA, and it is 65 years in the UK.
