Government of
India
continue to take various initiatives and measures facilitating the
promotion of welfare of the pensioners as well as relief for
mitigating the hardship/distress of families of the deceased
Central Government servants.
These include the following.
-
Setting-up
of a Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA)
to help mobilize voluntary efforts to supplement the Government
action as well as to serve as a useful forum for providing a
feedback for the
policy initiatives and implementation of welfare programmes
for pensioners.
-
Establishment of an Information
and Facilitation Counter (IFC)
for the pensioners, in Lok Nayak Bhawan at New Delhi to
provide information about the pension-related services, schemes
and procedures, and to facilitate not only the
lodging of their complaints/applications but also to
provide the status on the disposal of their complaints as a
single-window service.
-
Setting-up
of a separate fund (Compassionate
Fund)
for providing relief to the families of Government servants if
they are left in indigent circumstances on account of premature
death of the Government servant (upon whom they depend for
support) and do not
receive any other form of death benefits, such as Contributory
Provident Fund, Gratuity or Family Pension.
-
Introduction
of Family
Pension
Scheme allowing for payment of pension for life for the family
of a Central Government servant who dies while in service.
-
Introduction
of the scheme for Payment
of Pension to Central Government Civil Pensioners through
Authorized Banks
to ensure a speedy and timely
disbursal of pension using the vast net work of their
branches.
-
Simplification of procedures to cut delays in the processing and disbursal of pensionary
and retirement benefits.
-
Liberalization
of provisions
relating to ex- gratia
lumpsum payment to the
families of Government servants who die while in service under
certain circumstances.
-
Liberalization
of pensionary
awards in the case of death/disability to the Government
servants while in service under certain circumstances.
-
Amendments
in relevant rules to facilitate granting of enhanced pension and
retirement benefits, enhancing the
maximum amount of gratuity to
Rs. 20 lakhs, increasing the
minimum amount of pension to Rs.
9000, increasing the limit for commutation to 40%, treating
‘Dearness Allowance’ as ‘emoluments’ for
retirement/death gratuity etc.)
-
Revising
the rate of family pension uniformly as 30% of pay last drawn,
and granting uniform percentage of pension as ‘dearness
relief’ for both the serving and the retired Government
servants.
-
Making
dependent parents, widowed/divorced daughters/unmarried
daughter eligible for
family pension
-
Simplification of the present
procedure of providing medical certificate every five years in
the case of physically/mentally permanently challenged children for life and
every three years in the case of temporarily challenged every year
to once in a life time and once in every five years respectively
from a medical board. Guardians of physically/mentally
challenged family pensioners to provide non employment
certificate once in a year as against the existing provision of every month.
Note:- Pension schemes are applicable to
the Government servants appointed
before 1-1-2004.
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