UK plans to raise retirement age to 68

Britain has decided to raise the retirement age to 68 years to tide over a mounting pension liability. India could take a cue from Britain and do the same to tackle the problem of faculty shortage staring in its face with the government's decision to increase seats in educational institutions.
A proposal to raise the retirement age of teachers from 62 to 65 is already under consideration.The government should implement it not just for teachers but for all employees, for good reasons.
Retirement age was fixed at 58 at a time when average longevity was much lower. It has gone up substantially since, but there has not been a corresponding increase in retirement age.
In 1996, the Fifth Pay Commission revised it by two years for central government employees. But in a number of states it still continues to be 58.
This is not just unfair to the employees but bad for the country. A society which declares a large section of its people redundant in their productive years is clearly a loser.
If a 70-plus Manmohan Singh can run the country efficiently why can't a 60-something bureaucrat run a government department? Many of them do get extensions or post-retirement assignments.
This leaves scope for subjectivity and favouritism. Why not extend the benefit across the board? Even now, judges of the Supreme Court, vice-chancellors of univer-sities, election commissioners and members of statutory bodies retire at 65.
Few jobs are physically as demanding as a pilot's. If they can fly till 65, there's no reason to offload bureaucrats and teachers at 60 and 62.
At that seniority one is expected to contribute at the level of ideas and provide professional expertise and guidance rather than do the running around.
Competence, efficiency and the right attitude to work have more to do with productivity than age. As for making way for the younger generation, in a rapidly expanding economy like ours, there will always be new jobs for them.