THIRUVANANTHPAURAM: The LDF seems to have concluded that pushing up the retirement age is politically suicidal. However, the Planning Board has recommended a way out: A ‘company’ for the retired. This body will be tasked with finding jobs for employees and professionals retired from both the public and private sectors. The proposal is yet to get the state government nod.
But the concept involves employing the retired mainly in government departments where vacancies are high, especially in panchayats where there is a shortage of technical staff and the education department where there is a shortage of personnel for paper valuation. The ‘company for the retired’ is one of the random ideas that came up during a session on geriatric issues at the Kerala Padana Congress organised by the CPM in January this year. The company, as envisaged by the Board, will function like an employment exchange and a placement agency. It will create a database of retired professionals and will then look for the right jobs, mostly in government departments.
“The initial idea was to include only retired government employees. But later it was decided to include those from the private sector, too. The exposure of those who had worked abroad and in other states can be harnessed for the benefit of the state,” a top Planning Board official said. The company, ideally, will not limit the services of its retirees to just the public sector.
“We should be able to make available our candidates to private firms too. The number of multinationals in the state is increasing, and we can find the right jobs for our professionals in these firms,” the official said. Retired policemen, for instance, can be employed as security heads in private firms. The employability of retired computer professionals, too, is estimated as high. The company can be structured in such a way that it could also provide skill upgradation programmes for employable retirees.
