The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), MoS (IC) for Youth Affairs and Sports, MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh has said all Central Ministries and Departments will be linked to the online Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System ‘Bhavishya’ very soon. Chairing the 28th meeting of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) here today, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that with this step, the pension release to the retired employees will be expedited and it will also help quick resolution of pending issues.Dr. Jitendra Singh said we need to put in place an institutionalized mechanism to make good use of the knowledge, experience and efforts of the retired employees which can help in the value addition to the current scenario. India has a large number of pensioners today and to make best use of them is a challenge, he added. Dr. Jitendra Singh said the retired employees are a healthy and productive workforce for India and we need to streamline and channelize their energies in a productive direction. We should learn from the pensioners’ experience, he added.
Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the Government has started ‘Anubhav’ scheme for the retiring employees to write an account of their experiences which can be helpful in improving the system. He also said that a focused approach and emphatic attitude needs to be developed towards the pensioners.Earlier, the Secretary, Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare and Secretary, Department of Administrative Reforms & Public Grievances, Shri C. Viswanath directed that all the Pension Payment Order (PPOs) should be digitized. The 28th SCOVA meeting was attended by the member Pensioners Associations and senior officers of the important Ministries/Departments of Government of India.The Department of Pension & Pensioners Welfare has taken various initiatives for the welfare of the pensioners. The online Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System ‘Bhavishya’ has introduced transparency and accountability into the pension sanction and payment process, thereby helping eliminate delays and bring satisfaction to the retiring employees and pensioners. The system keeps retiring employees and administration informed of the progress of pension sanction process through SMS/e-mail. In the year 2015-16, the scheme has been scaled up and will eventually cover all 9,000 Drawing & Disbursal Offices (DDOs) in the country.‘Sankalp’ is an initiative for motivating retiring employees and pensioners to take up voluntary work after retirement so as to channelize their experience and skill towards productive work for society and nation building.
The Department has so far registered 1,812 Pensioners, 16 Organisations and 19 Pensioners Associations under this project. Some Pensioners Associations have done exemplary work under the initiative. ‘Anubhav’ was launched in February, 2015 on the direction of the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi. This initiative is to showcase the outstanding work done by retiring employee that contributed to the efficiency, economy and effectiveness in Government functioning. It is envisaged that over a period of time this will create a wealth of information, institutional memory and innovative ideas and will motivate employees.‘Jeevan Pramaan’ is a facility created for submission of Aadhaar based digital life certificate. This scheme was initiated by the Prime Minister on November 10, 2014. This scheme provides an excellent facility for the benefit of pensioners to submit their digital life certificate from the comfort of their homes. The Pensioners Associations are actively involved in motivating their fellow pensioners to get their pension accounts seeded with Aadhaar Number. Due to continuous efforts, as on date around 34 lakh i.e 71% of Central Government pensioners have seeded their bank accounts with Aadhaar Numbers.