The State government has made yet another set of changes to the norms for beneficiaries of various welfare pensions. The major change in norms is regarding the floor area of the beneficiary's house.
As per a government order issued in July last year, to ensure that only those deserving of social security pensions draw it, those living in houses with floor area above 1,200 square feet and those owning cars above 1,000 cc engine capacity were made ineligible for the pension. The floor area component was removed earlier this year. As per a circular issued earlier this week, this has now been reinstated with those living in concrete houses above 2,000 square feet and having modern flooring will be considered ineligible.
The condition regarding ownership of an air-conditioned vehicle above 1,000 cc engine capacity has been retained. Having air-conditioning facility in the house could also make a beneficiary ineligible. In calculating the annual income of the family, the income of married sons or daughters will not be taken into consideration.
The government had in July this year issued another circular on the revised norms for beneficiaries. However, this was put on hold the very next day owing to confusions regarding various conditions. The latest circular has been issued as a kind of clarification for this earlier circular, which was withheld.
As per the latest figures, more than 46 lakh people draw social security pensions in the State, while another 6.5 lakh people draw the welfare fund board pensions. The welfare pensions were increased by ₹100 in the budget this year.
A process of weeding out of ineligible beneficiaries was carried out in all local bodies last year. As part of the cleaning up of the list, the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation had found that 1,699 beneficiaries of various welfare pension were ineligible for the same. In the past four years of the current administration, a total of 29,770 persons were newly included in the beneficiary list for pensions. Out of this, a second round of scrutiny was carried out in the case of 14,806 beneficiaries, following the government decision to weed out ineligible beneficiaries.
