PM Shram-Yogi Maandhan: Government Notifies Eligibility Criteria For Mega Pension Scheme 

The government has notified the eligibility criteria for the mega pension scheme announced in 2019 interim budget, 'Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan' for the unorganised sector labourers with monthly income up to Rs. 15,000, reports Economic Times.

"India’s GDP comes from the toil of 42 crore workers in the unorganised sector working as street vendors, rickshaw pullers, construction labourers, rag pickers, agricultural, beedi, handloom, leather workers and in numerous other similar occupations." Union Minister Piyush Goyal had said while presenting the interim budget on 1 February.

The scheme coming into force on 15 February excludes citizens over 40 years of age or anyone already covered under a pension scheme where the government makes a part of the contribution. Additionally, in case of the demise of the pensioner, only the spouse will be eligible for family pension i.e. children are not eligible in such a situation.

Under the new pension scheme, a pension of Rs 3000 per month will be given to the subscribers after reaching the age of 60. Both the government and the subscriber would contribute equal amounts to the pension corpus during the years of accumulation. The beneficiary must have a savings bank account and Aadhaar number.

If the subscriber exits the scheme before attaining the age of 60 within 10 years of joining, then his share of contribution will be returned to him along with savings bank interest rate. After that, he shall get his share of contribution along with the accumulated interest actually earned by the pension scheme or bank savings account interest rate, whichever is higher.

In case of death of the subscriber, the spouse will have the option to continue the scheme or exit. In latter, the spouse will receive the share of contribution paid by the subscriber along with accumulated interest or savings bank interest rate, whichever is higher.

The unorganised worker, who subscribes to the scheme at the age of 29 years will have to contribute Rs 100 a month till the age of 60 years, while those joining the pension yojana at 18 years will have to contribute only Rs 55 per month.

A sum of Rs 500 crore has been allocated for the scheme, however, additional funds will be provided as needed.

The detailed notification on Pradhan Mantri Shram-Yogi Maandhan is available on https://labour.gov.in/whatsnew/pradhan-mantri-shram-yogi-maan-dhan-yojana.