BHUBANESWAR: Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan on Tuesday launched the Rs 1,000 Minimum Monthly Pension Scheme here.
“As many as 56,000 persons will benefit from the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation’s (EPFO) pension scheme in Odisha, while 32 lakh persons will benefit across the country,” Pradhan said while launching the scheme in the Capital.
The Centre had recently notified the amendment to the Employees’ Pension Scheme-1995 to provision a minimum monthly pension of Rs 1,000. Stating that employees’ interest has always been dear to the Centre, the Minister said it is because of this that the wage ceiling of the social security scheme of EPFO has been raised from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000 per month. The initiative is expected to bring 50 lakh new employees under the social security umbrella, he said and added that maximum benefit admissible under the Employees’ Deposit Linked Insurance Scheme (EDLIS) has also been increased from the earlier Rs 1,30,000 to Rs 3,60,000.
Informing about the public welfare initiatives launched by the Centre during the 100 days of Modi Government, Pradhan elaborated on the recently-launched Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. It would strengthen the standard of living of the poor.
Four lakh accounts worth Rs 1,500 crore deposits have been opened so far and beneficiaries are also being given ‘Rupay’ debit cards. Subsidy for all Central schemes will be provided through these accounts, Pradhan said and assured that he will take up the issue of inclusion of workers and employees from the unorganised sector in the pension scheme with Modi.
Regional Commissioner of EPFO SK Nayak said all pensioners will be included in the core banking facility in the EPF office. They would be able to get pension on the last day of a month, he said and added that 7.50 lakh employees of Odisha have been provided Universal Account Number. Priyadarshi Nayak, BJD MLA, Bhubaneswar (North), and social worker Dilip Mohanty were also present.