Akhilesh's pension plan gets 5 mn applicants

Govt has made budgetary allocation of Rs 2,424 crore for 2014-15 for the scheme

Even as the Akhilesh Yadav government in Uttar Pradesh has practically debunked its populist schemes vis-a-vis free laptops and unemployment dole, over 5 million poor have applied for his ambitious pension scheme.

The Samajwadi Pension Scheme is being touted as the biggest social welfare scheme to be funded by any state government solely out of its own resources. The government has made budgetary allocation of Rs  2,424 crore for 2014-15 for the scheme, aimed at benefiting 4 million poor in the urban and rural areas.

The government estimates that by July 15, the last day for applying under the scheme, the applicants’ number would swell to about 8 million.

However, the actual number of beneficiaries would be pruned down to 4 million by selecting them according to the eligibility criteria. The social welfare department is the nodal agency.

“We have devised a foolproof mechanism to select the beneficiaries to ensure maximum transparency,” State Chief Secretary Alok Ranjan said at a conference call here on Thursday.

Of the 4 million final beneficiaries, 1.2 million and one million would be selected from the SC/ST and minority communities, respectively. The remaining 1.8 million would be selected from backward and general categories.

Under the scheme, Rs 500 per month would be credited to the bank account of the beneficiaries’ family directly through e-payment.

The government would facilitate to open bank account to those families, who do not previously hold such account.

It also proposes to increase the pension amount by Rs 50 per year; as such the pension would increase to Rs 750 per month in the sixth year of operation.

"The scheme would finally be on the ground in November 2014 and every beneficiary would get consolidated pension for 7 months from April to October. Later, the pension payment would be done monthly," he informed.