Context: Amid the coronavirus outbreak, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority has decided to contribute a part of the employee’s salary to PM CARES Fund.
About Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA)

• It is the statutory authority established by an enactment of the Parliament in 2003.
• Its aim is to regulate, promote and ensure orderly growth of the National Pension System (NPS) and pension schemes to which this Act applies.
• It is regulating NPS which is subscribed by employees of Government of India, State Governments and by employees of private institutions/organizations & unorganized sectors.
• It is ensuring the orderly growth and development of pension market.
• The Authority shall consist of a Chairperson and not more than six members, of whom at least three shall be Whole-Time Members, to be appointed by the Central Government.

About National Pension System (NPS)

• The National Pension System (NPS) was introduced in 2003.
• Concerns of inadequate coverage and fiscal unsustainability of traditional civil-servant pensions led to NPS's creation.
• The NPS was visualised as a defined-contribution pension scheme.
• It had features including individual pension accounts, multiple pension funds, etc.
• Initially, NPS covered only government employees.It was extended to all citizens by 2009, barring members of the armed forces.
• Subsequent reforms focused bringing India’s vast unorganised sector workforce into the NPS net.
• In this line were introduced a simpler variant of NPS, ‘NPS-Lite’ in 2010. Likewise, the ‘Swavalamban’ scheme was introduced in 2010.
• Under this, the government co-contributes to the pension corpus of unorganised sector workers not covered by social security schemes.
• Similarly, the ‘Atal Pension Yojana’ was introduced in 2015.
• In this, the government guarantees a minimum post-retirement monthly pension.
• It also extends co-contribution benefits to unorganised sector workers.