Aadhaar is not compulsory to get Pension
Dr. Jitendra Singh chairs 30th meeting of Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies
Adhaar is not mandatory to get pension: Dr Jitendra Singh
The
Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North
Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions,
Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh chaired the 30th meeting of
the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) here today. The
SCOVA meeting is organised by the Department of Pensions &
Pensioners' Welfare (DoP&PW), Ministry of Personnel, Public
Grievances & Pensions and the last such meeting was held on January
12, 2017.
During the meeting, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the
SCOVA which was first constituted in July, 1986 would be completing 32
years this year. He said this platform has gone a long way in addressing
in a focused manner issues related to Pensioners.
He said that
today's interaction was very meaningful and stimulating, thus reflecting
on the working of DoP&PW. The Minister while assuring the
representatives of pensioners’ Associations said that it was no more
mandatory to have one's Adhaar Card to get his/her pension.
The
Minister said that the Department of Pensions has brought out a series
of OMs to benefit the Pensioners/Family Pensioners in the last 12 months
including enhancing of minimum pension from Rs.3500/- to Rs.9000/- per
month; the ceiling of gratuity has been increased from the existing
Rs.10 lakhs to Rs.20 lakhs; the rates of ex-gratia lump sum compensation
being paid to the families of employees who die in performance of duty
has been increased from existing Rs. 10-15 lakhs to Rs.25-45 lakhs.
He also said that divorced daughter will be eligible for family pension
if divorce case has been filed before the death of pensioner/family
pensioner, even though the judgement has been passed after the death of
the pensioner /family pensioner.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said that
this Government has given relief to the senior citizens and Pensioners
in the Budget 2018-19 by allowing Standard Deduction of Rs. 40,000/- per
year to the Pensioners and given exemption on tax on account of
interest income from bank savings accounts has been increased to Rs.
50,000/ from Rs. 10,000/- per year. Deduction on account of health
insurance premium which was earlier allowed at maximum of Rs.30,000/-
has now been increased to Rs. 50,000/- in the case of Senior
Citizens/Pensioners.
While addressing the meeting he said that we
need to put in place an institutionalized 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. Dr.Jitendra
Singh said the retired employees are a healthy and productive workforce
for India and we need to streamline and channelize their energies in a
productive direction. We should learn from the pensioners’ experience,
he added. The Minister also said that the DoP&PW should be reoriented in such a way that pensioners become a part of nation building process.
In
the meeting, discussions were held on the action taken report of the
29th SCOVA meeting. Further many issues related to pensioners were
discussed threadbare, such as revision of PPOs of pre-2006 pensioners,
Health Insurance Scheme for pensioners including those residing in non-CGHS area, Special "
Higher"
Family Pension for widows of the war disabled invalidated out of
service, Extension of CGHS facilities to P&T pensioners, issue
relating to CGHS Wellness Centre, Dehradun
etc. The Minister
directed for the prompt and time bound redressal of the grievances of
the pensioners and said that we should have sympathetic attitude towards
them.
The Secretary, DoP&PW, Shri K.V. Eapen and other senior
officers of the department were also present on the occasion. The
meeting was also attended by the member Pensioners Associations and
senior officers of the important Ministries/Departments of Government of
India.
PIB
