Finance minister Arun Jaitley has proposed the revival of the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana, first introduced by the previous NDA government, for a limited period of one year in the union budget 2013-14.
“Under the scheme…3.16 lakh annuitants are being benefitted and the corpus amounts to Rs.6,095 crore. I propose to revive the scheme for a limited period from 15 August, 2014 to 14 August, 2015 for the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and above,” Mr. Jaitley said in his budget speech on Thursday.
Mr. Jaitley also proposed setting up a committee to examine unclaimed amounts lying as deposits in accounts of PPF, Post Office and other saving schemes.
“A large amount of money is estimated to be lying as unclaimed amounts (in these accounts). These are mostly out of investments belonging to senior citizens and on their demise, remain unclaimed,” said Mr. Jaitley.
“I propose to set up a committee to examine and recommend how this amount can be used to protect and further financial interests of the senior citizens,” he said.
The committee is expected to submit its report “not later than December this year”.
