A post claiming that the Union Cabinet has approved an increase in the retirement age of central government employees to 62 is going viral on social media platforms (here, here, and here). Through this article, we will fact-check the claim made in the post.Claim: The Government of India has increased the retirement age of central government employees to 62.Fact: The Government of India has not increased the retirement age of central government employees to 62. The Press Information Bureau of the Government of India has clarified that the government has not made any such decision to raise the retirement age of central government employees. Moreover, in August 2023, the government confirmed in the Lok Sabha that there is no proposal under consideration to change the retirement age of central government employees. Hence, the claim made in the post is FALSE.To verify the veracity of the viral claim, we conducted a relevant keyword search. Neither did we find any credible reports suggesting that the Government of India has increased the retirement age of central government employees to 62 nor that the Union Cabinet has recently approved or reviewed any proposal to increase the retirement age of central government employees. If such a decision had indeed been made by the government, it would surely have been reported by the media.During this search, we found multiple reports (here, here, and here) published in August 2023, stating that in reply to a Lok Sabha question on 9 August 2023, Union Minister Jitendra Singh confirmed that there is no proposal under consideration to change the retirement age of central government employees. The Lok Sabha reply given by Union Minister Jitendra Singh regarding the retirement age of central government employees can be viewed here,We have also reviewed the Press Information Bureau (PIB) press releases regarding Union Cabinet meetings (here) but did not find any information related to Cabinet discussions on the retirement age of central government employees. In the most recent Union Cabinet meeting, held on 06 November 2024 and chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Cabinet approved ‘PM Vidyalakshmi’, a new Central Sector scheme aimed at providing financial support to meritorious students, ensuring that financial constraints do not prevent anyone from pursuing higher studies (here). Union Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw briefed the media about the Union Cabinet meeting held on 06 November 2024 (here).
