Nirmala Sitharaman rebuts Cong charges on Atal Pension Yojana

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in a strong rebuttal to Congress charges on the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) on Tuesday, described it as a scheme based on ‘best practice choice architecture’ and also underlined the fact that the APY subscribers are getting guaranteed 8 per cent return every year. Sitharaman’s defence of the flagship scheme of the Modi government comes on the back of Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh’s claims that it was a ‘very poorly-designed scheme’ and people were ‘coerced and hoodwinked’ by the officials to join it. Breaking down the best practice choice architecture, the Finance Minister said on X: “The feature was introduced for the best interest of subscribers. Instead of requiring people to decide each year to continue, they have to take a decision to discontinue.”