Move to benefit 80,000 people; govt to present proposal to clear pending amount in Friday's Cabinet meet
In a move that will benefit thousands of senior citizens, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is soon going to do away with the mandatory linking of Aadhaar cards with bank accounts to avail of the pension scheme. The move will help around 80,000 citizens who have not received the pension amount as their Aadhaar cards are not linked with their bank accounts.
The social welfare department of the Delhi government has prepared a proposal to clear the pending amount and will present it in the next cabinet meeting scheduled on Friday. Presently, those who do not have linked their Aadhaar cards on National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) portal are not receiving the increased pension. NPCI is an umbrella organisation for all retail payments in India. It was set up with the guidance and support of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and Indian Banks Association (IBA).
"The pensions of around 80,000 senior citizens are pending as their Aadhaar cards are not linked with NPCI. We have now decided that the increased pension will be given to the beneficiaries and side by side they can continue linking their Aadhaar cards. The proposal is prepared and we will present it in the Cabinet on Friday," said Rajendar Pal Gautam, Social Welfare Minister, Delhi government.
Recently, the Supreme Court had said that linking Aadhaar card to receive pensions is not mandatory. The Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has also requested all pension-disbursing banks to not turn away senior citizens who do not have an Aadhaar card and are seeking pension in a circular released in April.
The decision has been applauded by the beneficiaries who have been facing a tough time to get their pensions cleared. "The move is definitely going to help the beneficiaries who have been struggling to get their due amount. We had raised this issue with the social welfare department's officers and the Minister. Many people who do not have their Aadhaar cards are also suffering, at least, this move will help few of them," said JR Gupta, chairperson, Senior Citizen Council of Delhi.
The central government has replaced the old pension system with the new pension scheme since 1st April 2004. Under the provisions of the new pension scheme, 10 per cent of an employee's salary will be deducted every month and an equal amount of that 10 per cent will be given by the government to create a head of the pension. The final sum of money (of employees and government) will be handled by national securities depository limited (NSDL) which invests this money in the share market to obtain monetary benefits.
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