BHUBANESWAR: In a major relief to the beneficiaries who have to exit the Subhadra scheme after becoming eligible for old-age pension, the Odisha government has allowed their auto-inclusion in the pension schemes once they cross 60 years of age.
At a high-level meeting, chief secretary Manoj Ahuja has approved the auto-inclusion of beneficiaries. Accordingly, the Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC) has been asked to ensure auto-migration facility from one scheme to another in the common state pension portal. This direction came more than two months after deputy chief minister Pravati Parida made it clear that the ex-beneficiaries of Subhadra who have been excluded from the scheme after crossing the age of 60 years will be provided the financial assistance till they get the old age pension. As many as 93,792 women, who crossed 60 years as on March 31, have been excluded from Subhadra scheme after they received two installments of Rs 5,000 each in the first year of the scheme.
Officials said the decision for auto-inclusion of ex-beneficiaries of Subhadra in pension scheme will help them immensely as they will not have to wait for their turn, given the huge backlog of old age pension applications at the district-level. Although Parida, also the minister for Women and Child Development (WCD) department, which is implementing Subhadra scheme, had earlier declared that the phased out beneficiaries would be included in the old-age pension schemes, there was no clarity whether or how many of them have been included.
Subhadra and old-age pension schemes have different sets of eligibility norms, the major difference being the annual income criteria. While the maximum family income from all sources has been capped at Rs 60,000 per annum for old-age pension beneficiaries, annual income is up to Rs 2.5 lakh to become eligible for Subhadra.
As per the criteria fixed by the SSEPD department, those who were included in Subhadra scheme on the basis of Rs 2.5 lakh income criteria will not be eligible for old-age pension. On the other hand, the ex-beneficiaries phased out due to the age norm cannot get Subhadra assistance unless the eligibility criteria is modified, sources said.
“Financial assistance under various pension schemes are different due to different eligibility criteria,” additional secretary of SSEPD department Deepak Routrai informed OCAC, urging it to ensure auto-migration facility from one scheme to another (both inter-department and intra-department) in the common state pension portal.
Meanwhile, the WCD department has urged the SSEPD department to furnish a report on the list of ex-beneficiaries (from the list of 93,792) who have been covered under the pension schemes and the list of ex-Subhadra beneficiaries, who remain uncovered as yet.
Odisha has around 36.75 lakh beneficiaries under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana (MBPY) and 21 lakh under National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP). The state has introduced its own pension scheme MBPY for those left out of NSAP and with a pendency of over six lakh applications for the social security benefits.