The number of social security pension beneficiaries have crossed 1 lakh in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, which has the highest number of beneficiaries among all local bodies in Kerala.
As of Wednesday, there were 1.09 lakh beneficiaries in the Corporation. The Kozhikode Corporation with 79,392 beneficiaries and the Kochi Corporation with 67,945 beneficiaries occupy the next two positions, while the total number of beneficiaries across the State now stands at 52.46 lakh.
The maximum number of beneficiaries across the State are drawing pensions under the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, which has a total of 29.66 lakh beneficiaries. The Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme has 14.05 lakh beneficiaries, while the Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme 4.20 lakh beneficiaries. Significantly, as many as 49.01 lakh beneficiaries belong to the general category, while there are 2.72 lakh beneficiaries from Scheduled Caste categories and 72,512 beneficiaries from Scheduled Tribe categories.
Till date, as many as 18.35 lakh people who were found to be ineligible have been removed from the beneficiary list. The government had four years back launched a drive to weed out ineligible beneficiaries. The Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation, which had carried out a study on social security pension schemes back in 2019, had found that atleast 10% of those in the list had understated their incomes, falsified ages or failed to update the records when the widow status changed. The government also set norms regarding the maximum floor area of the beneficiary’s house to ensure that only the deserving drew the pensions. Those owning cars above 1,000 cc engine capacity were made ineligible for the pension.
The number of beneficiaries have jumped over the years, especially for old age pensions. The State government share is more in these schemes, with the Union government share between ₹200-500 depending on the age in the total widow pension of ₹1,600 per beneficiary. In the case of disability pensions, the State government contributes ₹1,100 of the pension paid to those with 80% disability and aged less than 80 years, and the Union government contributes ₹500. For those with 80% disability and aged above 80 years, the State government bears the entire expense.
