Centre Extends Invalid Pension Benefits To Personnel With Less Than 10 Years Of Service In Armed Forces

The government on Wednesday (15 July) decided to provide invalid pension to armed forces personnel with less than 10 years of qualifying service, PTI reported.

The Union Defence Ministry said in a statement, "The government has taken a decision to allow invalid pension to armed forces personnel with less than 10 years of qualifying service."

Invalid pension, until now, was only given to those who had served in the forces for 10 or more years and were invalidated for reasons that were neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service.

In case of less than 10 years of service, a soldier was only granted invalid gratuity. However, the move will now make them eligible for pension as well.

The Ministry also said several ex-personnel were going to be benefitted with the decision including those who had to be leave their force due to any bodily or mental infirmity, that is neither attributable to nor aggravated by military service, and have permanently incapacitated them from both military services and civil re-employment.

"The proposal has been approved by Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh. Benefit of this decision will be available to those armed forces personnel who were in service on or after 04.01.2019," the ministry noted.