HYDERABAD: In a move that will benefit 20 lakh pensioners of Employees’ Pension Scheme (EPS), the Union government has approved continuation of minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per month on perpetual basis. The scheme was to end in March 2015.
Announcing the decision, Minister of State for Labour, Bandaru Dattareya, told reporters here Saturday that the Union government would commit Rs 850 crore per year for the scheme.
“Providing a minimum pension of Rs 1000 per month is an effort to provide meaningful subsistence to pensioners who have served in the organised sector for decades,” he said.
Under the scheme, the widow of pensioner is entitled to receive Rs 1000 pension even after the death of the latter.
Even children of the pensioner are entitled to receive the same upto the age of 25 years after the death of latter, he said.
The pension fund under EPS 1995 is funded by contributions remitted at the rate of 8.33 per cent and 1.16 per cent of the wages by employers and the Central government respectively, he added.
Congress Looted Country: DATANNA
Bandaru Dattatreya poked fun at Congress leader Rahul Gandhi for speaking on behalf of farmers. “It was the Congress party that looted the resources of the country,” he said and alleged that during the Congress regime, the creation of special economic zones pushed several farmers into distress.