Centre proposes to hike monthly pensions

Why in news?

• Ahead of the 2019 election, the Rural Development Ministry has proposed that the monthly pensions of the elderly poor, disabled and widows be increased from the current Rs 200 to Rs 800.
• For those above the age of 80, the proposal is to increase the pension from Rs 500 to Rs 1,200 a month.
• The proposal, annual cost implication of Rs 18,000 crore, presented to the Finance Ministry to be considered for inclusion in the interim Budget to be presented on February 1.
• The proposal administers the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP).
• The Centre has been considering various welfare measures to benefit rural Indians and farming communities before the Lok Sabha election. Income support, interest waivers and increased access to credit as some of the other measures being considered.

 National Social Assistance Programme

• The NSAP is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with an annual budget of Rs 9975 crore.
• It currently covers more than three crore people who are below the poverty line (BPL), including about 80 lakh widows, 10 lakh disabled and 2.2 crore elderly.
• Those who are older than 80 years are paid Rs 500 per month, while the rest are given Rs 200 per month. These amounts have not been revised since 2007. State governments add their own contribution, ranging from less than Rs 500 to Rs 2000 per month.
• Scheme is implementing a comprehensive social security and protection programme to reach every household of old, widows, orphaned children, divyaang and deprived as per the Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC).”
• If SECC data was used to determine the number of people covered under the scheme instead of the current BPL criteria, coverage would double to about six crore people. Despite that, Mr. Jaitley said allocation for the scheme would be unchanged. Without additional funds, there has been no concrete move towards using SECC data.
• There is a possibility of merging State and Central schemes to increase coverage. The evaluation study will allow to take an informed decision. But we will have to decide a new cost-sharing ratio [between Centre and States. Several States, including Rajasthan, Telangana, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, have already shifted to SECC data for their own pension schemes.

(Social sector, Economy)(The Hindu)

Pic courtesy: The Hindu