Union minister Jitendra Singh announced increase in minimum pension for central government employees in India by Rs. 9,000 per person and two-fold hike in ex-gratia amount. Convening the 29th meeting of the standing committee of voluntary agencies (SCOVA), Singh said almost 88 percent of pension accounts have been seeded to Aadhaar.
The ex-gratia amount has been increased from Rs 10-15 lakh to Rs 25-35 lakh, as per a press release issued by the personnel ministry. There are about 50-55 lakh pensioners in the country. The SCOVA meeting was organised by the Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoP&PW).
He later added that there is a need to put in place an institutionalised mechanism to make good use of the knowledge, experience and efforts of the retired employees, which can help in the value addition to the current scenario.
The retired employees account for a healthy and knowledgeable, productive workforce of the country, and there is a need to channelize and streamline their talent for the public good. “We should learn from the pensioners’ experience,” Singh added.
The DoP & PW should be reoriented in such a way that pensioners form a crucial part of the nation building process.
Many more issues related to pensioners and pensions were discussed at the gathering, to include revision of the Pension Payment Orders of Pre-2006 pensioners, health insurance scheme for pensioners including those residing in non-Central Government Health Service (CGHS) area and special higher family pension for widows of the war disabled invalidated out of service, etc.
The meeting saw attendees who are members of the pensioners association and senior central government employees.
Also read: Indian Government Launches Scheme to Train and Upskill Youth Seeking Jobs Abroad
Image credit: janayugomonline.com
