Year End Review of the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Chintan Shivir, addressed by Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi in February 2023, deliberated on “Improving Pensioners Welfare” and drew up the roadmap of activities of the Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare

ANUBHAV Award ceremony was held on 23rd October, 2023 in which MOS (PP) conferred 05 Anubhav Award and 10 Jury certificates to Anubhav write-ups. Highest number of nominations received in 2023 for Anubhav Awards

12 Monthly Reports on CPENGRAMS & BHAVISHYA highlighting performance of various Ministry / Department on Pensioners’ Grievance redressal published

A Nationwide Digital Life Certificate Campaign 2.0 was organized in November, 2023 in 602 locations of 105 cities across India in which 1.17 crore pensioners submitted DLCs including 19 lac pensioners through face authentication

CCS (Extra Ordinary Pension) Rules, 2023 by updating CCS, EOP Rules, 1939 were released

2 All India Pension Adalats were held to redress 440 chronic grievances of pensioners

3 Pre-Retirement Counseling (PRCs) Workshops held in 2023 attended by 1400 officials

2 Bankers’ Awareness Programs with Pension Disbursing Banks for updating awareness about pension rules/ procedure to reduce pensioners grievances held

Integrated Pensioners Portal on Bhavishya portal to integrate Banks to provide banking services to pensioners on a single portal launched. State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank & Bank of Baroda integrated

10 meetings in 4 cities with Pensioners Welfare Associations to update them with pension rules/ procedure and get their feedback

CPENGRAMS Portal has redressed in 72,110 pensioners’ grievances and 11,000 appeals with average disposal time of 26 days. 11,524 feedback calls were made to pensioners to get their feedback

DoPPW issued many OMs on welfare measures through updated/ revised rules/ procedures to enhance “Ease of Living” of pensioners

Chintan Shivir under the auspice of Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi

The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare organized a Chintan Shivir on February 17th and 18th, 2023, in New Delhi. Various discussion groups were formed, each focusing on different aspects of the department for meaningful contemplation. The first day commenced with sessions on yoga and meditation, leading into thoughtful discussions on various departmental topics.

On February 18th, 2023, the Prime Minister addressed an interactive session with employees from the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), Department of Administrative Reform & Public Grievances (DARPG) and the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW). PM directed department to focus on digital empowerment of pensioners and bringing Government closer to pensioners.

Pre-Retirement Counseling (PRC) Workshop

Under the initiative ‘Sankalp’, the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has been conducting Pre-Retirement Counselling workshops, throughout the country to facilitate officials who are about to retire, in the superannuation process.

The Workshop, held for the benefit of retiring employees of the Government of India, is a revolutionary step in direction of ‘Ease of Living’ of the pensioners. In the workshop, soon to be retiring employees, were provided relevant information related to the retirement benefits and pension sanction process. Department of Pension & Pensioners organized 3 PRCs in the year 2023. Till now, total 52 PRCs have been conducted which benefitted 8922 officials.

ANUBHAV Award 2023

On the directions of the Prime Minister, Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare had launched an online platform entitled ‘Anubhav’ in March 2015 for sharing experiences of retiring government employees while working with the Government. Under Anubhav Awards Scheme, 2023, in addition to Anubhav Awards, it was decided to confer ‘Jury Certificates’ also for the first time, to ensure wider publicity & enhanced participation of the retiring/retired employees. Due to outreach campaign, an all-time high of 1901 write-ups were published by 30 Ministries/Departments with 151 write-ups from the officers having pay level 13 and above. In the ceremony held on 23.10.2023, 04 Anubhav Awards and 09 Jury Certificates were conferred by Dr. Jitendra Singh, MoS (PP).

ANUBHAV Awardee Speak Webinar

A monthly webinar series featuring Anubhav awardees and prominent retired personalities was conducted to motivate the retiring employees and sharing their experiences while working in Government. The series completed its 13^th edition in December, 2023 and total 24 speakers from 12 different Ministries/ Departments has participated the audiences. It has been well received by the audiences and retiring employees join the webinar series from more than 500 locations spread across the country.

Monthly Report on CPENGRAMS & BHAVISHYA

The department analyzes the data available on the CPENGRAMS portal on important parameters on monthly basis viz. grievances/appeals- received, redressed, redressal time and pendency. Accordingly, ranking is assigned to the Ministries/Departments. Similarly, the tracking of the PPOs on the Bhavishya portal is done and the data regarding delayed PPOs including the PPOs of the employees who are going to retire in next 15 months is incorporated in the report. This report is sent to all the Secretaries of Government of India for necessary action. 

Nationwide Digital Life Certificate Campaign 2.0

The Campaign was held from 1^st to 30^th November, 2023 at 602 locations of 105 cities across the country in collaboration with 16 Pension Disbursing Banks, Ministries/ Departments, 44 Pensioners’ Welfare Associations, UIDAI, MeitY, PIB and DD News. In November 2023, the campaign generated more than 1.15 Crore DLCs. Face Authentication Technology. launched in November 2021, allows pensioners to submit Digital Life Certificates using Android smartphones, reducing dependence on external devices.

The November 2023 campaign contributed over 1.15 Crore DLCs, with Face Authentication Technique used in more than 19.18 lakhs. Feedback indicates satisfaction and reduced time for DLC generation, enhancing pensioners’ ‘Ease of Living’.

National DLC Portal

A National DLC portal was launched for monitoring of Nationwide DLC Campaign 2.0. 290 nodal officers of all Min/ Depts, Banks and PWAs are registered on this portal.

Out of 70 Lakh Central Government Pensioners, more than 38 lakhs have submitted DLCs, including 9.60 lakhs with Face Authentication. DLC submission is ongoing, with an expected total submission crossing 50 Lakh by March 2024. The campaigns serve as a significant means of spreading information about government initiatives, bringing government and pensioners closer.

CCS (Extra Ordinary Pension) Rules, 2023

Families of Central Government civilian employees who die on account of injury or disease attributable to Government services, are eligible for Extra-ordinary family pension under the CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023. Similarly, employees who get disabled due to an injury or disease on account of causes attributable to or aggravated by Government Service are eligible for Disability pension under CCS (Extraordinary Pension) Rules, 2023. Department released new CCS EOP rules after 84 years.

All India Pension Adalats

The Department, with a focus on addressing pensioners’ grievances, initiated system of pension Adalats. The first Adalat took place on September 20, 2017, in New Delhi, and the most recent one occurred on October 23, 2023. These adalats offer an additional platform for addressing pension-related grievances, aiming to eliminate the need for recourse to the Court or Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). This approach is expected to save both time and resources for the government in handling legal matters. In 2023, two (2) Pension Adalats were held on 17^th May, 2023 and 23^rd October, 2023, 603 cases were taken up during the two Pension Adalats in which 440 cases were resolved on the spot.

Bankers’ Awareness Programs

The Department has commenced a series of Bankers’ Awareness Workshops for field functionaries handling pension business at CPPCs and Bank branches with the objective of providing information, about the latest pension Rules/procedure and initiatives taken by DoPPW. The Department organized 02 Bankers’ Awareness Programs with Pension Disbursing Banks in Srinagar with the coordination of State Bank of India on 10-11^th July, 2023 and in Lucknow with the coordination of Punjab National Bank on 17-18^th August, 2023.

Integrated Pensioners’ Portal (IPP)

The Pensioners’ Portal scheme was evolved to provide updated information on pension and to help bridge the communication gaps between the pensioners and the Government. As per the National e-Governance Service Delivery Assessment (NeSDA) 2021, the BHAVISHYA Portal has been awarded the 3^rd Rank among all the Central Government e-Governance Service Delivery Portals. As directed by MoS (PP), the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has developed an “Integrated Pensioners’ Portal” using Bhavishya platform as the base to provide a Common Single Window Portal for pensioners and elder citizens. State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank and Bank of Baroda had already integrated their Pension Portals with the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal. Presently, 4 facilities viz. Monthly Pension Slip, Status of Life Certificate, Submission Form16 of the Pensioner and Due & Drawn Statement of pension arrears paid, are being provided by these Banks.

Meetings with Pensioners’ Welfare Associations

The department has taken steps to reach out to all pensioners through various modes and spread awareness about its initiatives, thus enabling all pensioners to use the benefits designed for them. As part of the outreach program to pensioners, DoPPW has commenced a series of meetings with the registered Pensioners’ Associations, online as well as physically, at regular intervals. Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) conducted 5 meetings in 4 cities i.e., Delhi, Bangalore, Pune and Jammu with Pensioners Welfare Associations.

Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) visited Banks’ CPPCs

The Central Pension Processing Centres (CPPC) of banks are the back offices which handle pension processing, commencing with opening of a pension account on receipt of PPOs in physical or electronic form to disbursement of pension. State Bank of India has 18 CPPCs and Punjab National Bank has 10 CPPCs across the country. Department visited State Bank of India & Punjab National Bank CPPCs & review their functioning.

Central Government Pensioners’ Grievances

The Department received more than 78,000 grievances from the Central Government pensioners of 148 Ministries/Departments with a monthly average of 6,500 grievances. Out of these, more than 81% grievances have been filed online through Centralized Pension Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS), a digital initiative for quality and expeditious redressals of Pensioners’ Grievances. The remaining 19% grievances have been filed with the active assistance of Integrated Grievance Cell and Call Centre, operated by DoPPW. Out of these, 72,110 grievances were disposed in 01 year. Due to constant monitoring and follow up, the redressal time has decreased from 36 days in 2018 to 26 days in 2023 with only 0.32% grievances pending for more than 6 months. Also, more than 12,000 appeals have been filed on the portal and more than 11,000 appeals have been disposed of.

Grievance Feedback Unit

The department has constituted Feedback Unit in the month of September, 2023 which has been assigned the task of examining and analyzing the grievances, disposed by various Ministries/ Departments including the disposals graded as ‘Poor’ and ‘Average’ by the complainants. It has been given the mandate to re-register the cases in the suitable grievances. Till date 11,524 cases have been examined and re-registration in more than 400 cases has been done. This initiative has benefited numerous pensioners as they have received pensioner benefits.

PUBLICATION OF CIRCULARS

Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare had issued instructions vide OM No. 57/04/2019- P&PW(B) dated 17.02.2020 giving one time option to Central Government employees who were declared successful for recruitment in the results declared on or before 31.12.2003 against vacancies which occurred before 01.01.2004 and were covered under the National Pension System on joining service on or after 01.01.2004, to be covered under the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972 (now 2021).

Thereafter, instructions have been issued vide OM No. 57/05/2021- P&PW(B) dated 03.03.2023 that in all cases where the Central Government civil employee has been appointed against a post or vacancy which was advertised/ notified for recruitment/ appointment, prior to the date of notification for National Pension System i.e. 22.12.2003 and are covered under the National Pension System on joining service on or after 01.01.2004, may be given a one-time option to be covered under the CCS(Pension) Rules, 1972 (now 2021).

Central Civil Services (Implementation of NPS) Rules, 2021- Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare had notified CCS (Implementation of NPS) Rules, 2021 to govern the service related matters of Central Government employees covered under NPS. These rules are being updated time to time for ease of implementation by Ministries / Departments.

PIB

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Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

• Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh says, all portals like Pension Disbursing Bank portals, ANUBHAV, CPENGRAMS, CGHS will be integrated in a single portal in the form of the newly created “Integrated Pensioners’ Portal” to ensure “Ease of Living for the elder citizens”
• Addressing the Bankers Awareness Workshop in Bhopal, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in tune with Vision of Prime Minister for an “Integrated Approach to bring Ease of Living”, the move will mitigate the problems faced by the pensioners
• Says, all 18 Pension disbursing banks will be integrated in Integrated Pensioners’ Portal
• Pension Department has undertaken a Nation-wide Digital Life Certificate through Face Authentication campaign in the November, 22 which has resulted into 30 lakhs pensioners submitting their life certificate digitally: Dr Jitendra Singh

06 MAR 2023

Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Science & Technology; Minister of State (Independent Charge) Earth Sciences; MoS PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances, Pensions, Atomic Energy and Space, Dr Jitendra Singh today informed that the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has decided that all the pension portals like Pension Disbursing Bank portals, ANUBHAV, CPENGRAMS, CGHS etc. will be integrated in a single portal in the form of the newly created “Integrated Pensioners’ Portal” (https://ipension.nic.in) to ensure “Ease of Living for the elder citizens”.

Addressing the Bankers Awareness Workshop in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, Dr Jitendra Singh said, in tune with Vision of Prime Minister for an “Integrated Approach to bring Ease of Living”, the move will mitigate the problems faced by the pensioners with the banks like Change of bank, Submission of life certificate, Submission of death certificate of pensioners, Pension slip and retrieval of pension slip, Income tax deduction data/form 16, Pension receipt information, the websites of Pension Disbursing Banks will also be integrated with the Integrated Pensioners Portal.

The Minister also pointed out that the task of Integration of Pension Seva Portal of SBI and Canara Bank with Bhavishya portal have been completed. With this integration, the pensioners can now get their pension slip, status of submission of Life Certificate and Form-16 through the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal. He also informed that all 18 Pension disbursing banks will be integrated in Integrated Pensioners’ Portal.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, DoPPW will take care of not only serving/retiring employees but also work for the Ease of Living of our pensioners and Digital Life Certificate is another step towards this direction. He pointed out that in November 2014, an Aadhar based scheme for online submission of digital life certificate, “Jeevan Pramaan” was launched by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to ensure transparency and “Ease of Living” for pensioners while submitting their life certificate.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, initially submission of DLCs using biometric devices was commenced and later, the Department engaged with MeitY to develop the milestone Face-Authentication Technology-based system based on UIDAI Aadhaar software through which it became possible to give DLC from any Android based smart phone. This breakthrough technology has reduced the dependence of pensioners on external bio-metric devices and has made the process more accessible and affordable to masses by leveraging biometric systems available on smartphones, he added.

The Minister informed that the Pension Department has undertaken a Nation-wide Digital Life Certificate through Face Authentication campaign in the November, 22 which has resulted into 30 lakhs pensioners submitting their life certificate digitally.

Secretary, Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare, Shri V.Srinivas said in his address that DoPPW has commenced a series of awareness programs for Bankers with a view to provide information about the latest pension rules/procedures reforms and welfare initiatives to Bank’s field functionaries, handling pensions. He said, in line with the Government’s objective of transparency, digitization and service delivery, the Bhavishya platform has ensured End-to-End digitization of the Pension processing and payment. From the retiree filing his/her papers online till issue of the PPO in electronic format going into the Digilocker, this platform has showcased the intention of complete transparency and efficiency of the Government. The ‘Bhavishya’ platform, an integrated online pension processing system was made mandatory for all central government departments w.e.f. 01.01.2017.

This system is at present being successfully implemented in the main Secretariat of 97 Ministries/ Departments including 818 Attached Offices, 7,941 DDOs on board. As on date, more than 1,89,494 cases have been processed i.e. PPOs issued which includes more than 1,23,249 e-PPOs.

PPO in Digilocker and eliminates delays in forwarding PPO to new Pensioners, as well as the necessity of handing over a physical copy. Considering that a very large number of retirees are from CAPFs who serve in far flung areas of the country, such software is a boon both in terms of Ease of processing as well as speed and accuracy in pension processing.

It may be recalled that the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has bagged the 3rd Rank for BHAVISHYA (An online tracking system for pension sanction and payment developed by DOPPW) as per the NeSDA Assessment 2021 among all the Central Government e-Governance Service Delivery Portals. The ranking is based on Accessibility, Content Availability, Ease of Use, Information Security & Privacy, End Service Delivery, Integrated Service Delivery, Status & Request Tracking. It’s very creditable to be able to achieve rank 3 on the basis of these parameters.

This Awareness programs also provide a platform for strategizing and conceiving new initiatives for the benefit of Pensioners. This facilitated introduction of the path for integration of Bhavishya Portal with the pension paying portals of the Banks. So far State Bank of India and Canara Bank has integrated their portals with Bhavishya – IPP and process is on with Punjab National Bank.

The workshops held were an excellent two-way learning process and will go very far in reducing Pensioners’ Bank related grievances since the Pension dealing Bank officials were made aware of all the measures/OMs taken/issued by DoPPW for Ease of Living of Pensioners. Such Awareness Programs also convey a strong message of the seriousness of this Department to focus on hitherto neglected expectations of the Pensioners from Banks.

PIB

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(Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions)

Posted On: 29 DEC 2022

Significant Achievements at a glance

• Nationwide DLC Campaign benefitted 30 Lakh pensioners
• Anubhav Awards for the years 2020, 2021 & 2022 conferred
• Dissemination of best practices through Anubhav Awardees Speak – Webinar Series
• Launch of Integrated Pensioners’ Portal in collaboration with SBI & other banks will benefit 11 Lakh pensioners
• Bhavishya ranked 3^rd best portal under (NeSDA- 2021 ranking)
• 1^st Rashtriya Kirti Puraskar – Hindi
• Bankers’ Awareness Series Workshops started for reducing root cause of Bank related grievances filed on CPENGRAMS
• Under Special Campaign 2.0 60 Circulars issued for pensioners’ Ease of Living, 3578 physical files and 3836 e-files weeded out
• Pension Adalat held on May 5, 2022. 50 cities linked digitally through VC.
• Release of Departmental publication of NPS Rules on Good Governance Day
• Monthly Reporting by DoPPW started to Secretaries for CPENGRAMS/ Delayed PPOs

1. Nationwide DLC Campaign benefitted 30 Lakh pensioners – A nation-wide campaign was launched by this Department during 1-30 November 2022, for ‘Ease of Living’ of pensioners/family pensioners in 37 cities with a view to spread awareness amongst all the Central Government pensioners as well as the Pension Disbursing Authorities for use of Digital Life Certificate (DLC)/Face Authentication Technology to submit Life Certificate. Till 30th November, 2022, a total of 30.85 lakh central government pensioners have used DLC successfully, in which 2.88 lakh DLC has been created through Face authentication.
2. Anubhav Awards for the year, 2020, 2021 & 2022 conferred- The Anubhav portal was created on the call of Prime Minister in 2015 with a vision to preserve rich experience of retired official in digital form. An award scheme to incentivize and encourage more retiring employees to submit their write-ups was introduced in 2016. On 18^th of October, 2022, in a ceremony held in Vigyan Bhawan, wherein Dr. Jitendra Singh, MoS (PP) conferred Anubhav Awards for the years 2019, 20202 & 2021 on 15 awardees.
3. Dissemination of best practices through Anubhav Awardees Speak Webinar Series – This Department has launched a nationwide Webinar Series “Anubhav Awardees Speak” from the 22nd of November 2022. The webinar series aims to facilitate experience sharing with relevant stakeholders and concerned Ministries/Departments/Organizations. The webinar series will feature two Anubhav Awardees as speakers to share their experience and to motivate/raise awareness among retiring employees to fill up their own experiences on the Anubhav Portal. Webinars are scheduled to take place on a monthly basis. Two Webinars have been held so far this year, having a total of 1182 participants.
4. Launch of Integrated Pensioners’ Portal in collaboration with SBI & other banks benefitting 11 Lakh pensioners – INTEGRATED PENSIONERS’ PORTAL has been launched in October 2022 with an objective to provide post-retirement services to the pensioners, through Bhavishya platform, a truly single window portal for the pensioners. SBI pension seva portal has been integrated to provide Pensioner related services. All 17 Pension disbursing banks shall be integrated into this portal for Ease of Pensioners.
5. Bhavishya ranked 3^rd best portal under central govt. service portals by NeSDA- 2021 ranking
6. Bhavishya is a web based online pension sanction and payment tracking system developed by the Department. The system helps both the retiring employees and the administrative authorities to monitor and track delays. It has been ranked 3^rd best among central government service portals by the NeSDA-2021. Bhavishya has overall 86% compliance in the seven major categories and 100% compliance in End Service Delivery and Status Request Tracking. As on 01.12.2022, Bhavishya is running in the 97 Ministries/Departments/Apex Bodies and 817 attached offices through 7920 DDOs. Further, this application has so far issued more than 1,80,000 PPOs.
7. 1^st Rashtriya Kirti Puraskar – This Department was awarded the First Rajbhasha Kirti Puraskar for remarkable achievement in the category of Ministry/Department with less than 300 employees by Shri Amit Shah, Union Minister of Home Affairs during the ‘Hindi Diwas’ Celebration organized by the Department of Official Language, Ministry of Home, at Surat (Gujarat). The award was received by Shri Sanjiv Narain Mathur, Additional Secretary (DOPPW).
8. Bankers’ Awareness Series for reducing root cause of grievances filed on CPENGRAMS –  This Department has started a series of Awareness Program for Central Pension Processing Centres and field functionaries handling pension related work in the banks. Since the major Pension Disbursing Authorities are banks, the first program in the series was held for officers of State Bank of India on 20^th and 21^st June, 2022 at Udaipur, covering the Northern region of the country. A team of officers from this Department took sessions on Bank related common pensioners’ grievances, Pension policy reforms & digitization regarding disbursement of pension to Central Government pensioners, with the objective of updating the field functionaries of State Bank of India. Special sessions were organized on Income Tax matters related to pensioners as well as Digital means of submitting the Annual Life Certificates. Chief Controller (Pension), CPAO shared the reasons leading to Pensioners’ grievances and suggested actions which may be taken by the bank for redressal.
9. Achievements under Special Campaign 2.0 – The Department has achieved the ambitious target set by it at the start of the campaign to bring down the pendency of Pension Grievances. The Department issued 60 circulars under Easing of Rules/Processes and resolved 4200 pending pensioner grievances. 6559 physical files were reviewed and out of these 3578 files were weeded out. Total 3836 E-Files have been closed in which action was completed. 35 Cleanliness Campaigns were conducted by the Department and Pensioners’ Associations across the country.
10. Pension Adalat – Pension Adalats were conducted across Ministries/Departments on a single day. May 5, 2022 throughout the country including all the Central Armed Police Forces as well as non-Civil Ministries viz., defence, railways, telecom and posts to resolve chronic grievances of Central Government Pensioners, falling within the four walls of extant policy. 50 cities were digitally linked through VC. All the stake-holders of a particular grievance were invited on a single platform viz. the concerned Ministry/Department, the Pay & Accounts Officer of the concerned Department, the CPAO (Central Pension Accounts Officer, Ministry of Finance), the concerned Bank and the Pensioner or his/her representative to resolve the case across the table. This was one of the largest pensioner grievance resolution exercises ever undertaken in the Country. Till date seven Pension Adalats have been conducted by DoP&PW and out of a total of 22000 pension matters listed approximately 16000 grievances were resolved. In 7^th All India Pension Adalat which was held on first week of 5^th May, 2022 at Dr. Ambedkar International Centre, Janpath, New Delhi under auspices of Dr. Jitendra Singh, Union Minister of State (PP) by leveraging technology through Video Conferencing.
11. Release of Departmental publication of NPS Rules – On the Good Governance Day, 2022 (25^th December, 2022), MoS(PP) released a book on the Central Civil Services (Implementation of National Pension System) Rules, 2021 published by the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare. These Rules were earlier notified on 30.03.2021. These Rules inter alia cover the matters relating to registration process and allotment of PRAN, contributions by the employee and the Government, compensation to be paid to the Government servant in case of delay in registration and credit of contributions to the NPS Account, option for benefits under the CCS(Pension) Rules or NPS Rules in the event of death or disability of Government servant during service, entitlements on superannuation, premature/ voluntary retirement, resignation from service, etc. and the procedure for processing of claims under NPS.
12. Monthly Report of DoPPW to Secretaries for CPENGRAMS/ Delayed PPOs –  The Department has started a practice of circulation of Monthly Report to all Secretaries of Ministries/Departments regarding pendency of Pension Grievances on CPENGRAMS portal and delay in issue of PPOs as per Bhavishya portal. Inter-Ministerial Review Meetings are also being held regularly to address excess pendency/delay.

PIB

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INDIAN RAILWAYS TECHNICAL SUPERVISORS ASSOCIATION

Indian railway latest news today

No: IRTSA/ CHQ/ CGEGIS/2022-2

Date: 23.04.2022

Secretary Finance (Expenditure),
North Block,
New Delhi – 110001

Respected Sir,

Sub: Central Government Employees Group insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) – Revision of coverage & monthly subscription.

Ref: 1. Recommendations of 110th report on “Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)”

2 Our earlier memorandum dated 29.06.2020 (Copy attached)

1. We seek your kind intervention to consider Revision of coverage & monthly subscription on Central Government Employees Group Insurance Scheme (CGEGIS) as per the recommendations of 110th report on “Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)”

2. Rates of subscription and insurance cover for Central Government Employees Group Insurance scheme (CGEGIS) were last revised in January 1990. Recommendations of Fifth & Sixth CPCs on CGEGIS rates of subscription & insurance cover were not implemented by the Government. Continuing the same rates of insurance amount for 30 long years defeats the basic purpose of providing insurance cover to the employees so as to extend adequate security to the families in the event of employees’ death.

3. In para 3.3. of 110th report on “Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)”, it was recommended that, “The Committee is of the view that the benefits provided by social security systems should improve quality of life, support independence and compensate for the loss of income after retirement. As regards CGEGIS, the Committee notes that the monthly deduction as well as the insurance amount have remained unchanged since 1990. In the present context, the insurance cover provided by CGEGIS seems to be too meager to be commensurate with the elevated cost of living. Therefore, the Committee recommends the Government to implement the recommendations of Seventh Central Pay Commission and increase the Insurance amount to Rs. 50,00,000, Rs. 25,00,000 and Rs.15,00,000 for Group ‘A’, ‘B’ and C officers/ staff respectively with commensurate enhancement in monthly contribution of Rs. 5000, Rs. 2500 and Rs. 1500 for respective Groups of officers/ staff.

4. In our earlier memorandum (copy attached), we have submitted all detailed justifications with low premium and high risk cover,

a) Cabinet decision taken on 29.06.2016 not to accept the recommendations of 7th CPC due to steep hike in monthly subscription towards CGEGIS recommended by the commission.
b) Cabinet decision and direction to Ministry of Finance to work out a customized group insurance scheme for Central Government Employees with low premium and high risk cover.
c) Premium for risk coverage in insurance policies have come down very drastically since 1990.
d) For 38.6 lakh sanctioned strength of Central Government employees covered in the CGEGIS, subscription for the insurance amount of Rs.50 lakh, Rs.25 lakh and Rs.15 lakh has to be much lesser than LIC’s policies which are offered for individuals and for groups.
e) Availability of LIC policies for the insured amount of Rs.50 lakh with much less premium, etc.

5. OUR PROPOSALS

For the sum assured recommended by 7th CPC the following rates of Monthly subscription @ 20% less than the Premium for Individual Term Insurance plus Savings Fund as derived in table-3 above are proposed,

a) Monthly subscriptions of Rs.1920, Rs.960 and Rs.640 for Sum Assured of Rs. 50 lakh, 25 lakh and 15 lakh for the Levels proposed by the 7th Pay Commission respectively, and payable to the family of the deceased employee in case of an employee’s death.
b) Ratio of the Insurance Fund and Saving Fund should be 25%:75% respectively.
c) In case of retirement, employees be paid a maturity benefit in proportion to the subscription, length of service and applicable interest rates.

Thanking you

Yours’ faithfully,

(Harchandan Singh),
General Secretary, IRTSA

Download IRTSA Revision of coverage & monthly subscription PDF

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INDIAN RAILWAYS TECHNICAL SUPERVISORS ASSOCIATION

No: IRTSA/ CHQ/ PENSION/2022-4

Date: 26.04.2022

Secretary Finance (Expenditure), North Block,
New Delhi – 110001

Respected Sir,

Sub: Increase in the rate of Additional Pension and Family Pension to the old pensioners.

Ref: 1. Recommendations of 110th report on “Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)”
2 Our earlier memorandum No: IRTSA/7th CPC /RB/2015-2 dated 14.12.2015

1. We seek your kind intervention to consider and revise the rate of Additional Pension and Family Pension to the old pensioners as per the recommendations of 110th report on “Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)”

2. In para 3.28 of 110th report on “Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)”, it was recommended that, “…. The Committee is of the view that the Government should sympathetically consider the demand of Pensioners’ Associations for 5% additional quantum of Pension on attaining the age of 65 years, 10% on 70 years, 15% on 75 years and 20% on 80 years to the Pensioners. The Committee recommends DoPPW to pursue vigorously with Finance Ministry and apprise the Committee of the outcome”.

Additional Quantum of Pension

3. Sixth Pay Commission had recommended additional Pension of 20, 30, 40, 50 and 100 % for retirees and family pensioners on attaining the age of 80, 85, 90, 95 and 100 years respectively. But this did not meet with the requirements of those in the age group of 65 to 80 years of age for meeting additional expenses on old age diseases and disabilities and other unforeseen exigencies, which further increase even faster in later years. Recommendation of Sixth Pay Commission for grant of 100% additional Pension after 100 years of age was illusionary and unjust in view of rare chances of survival up to or beyond 100 years of age. 7th CPC has also not changed these conditions.

4. 7th CPC in para 10.1.11 observed that of the total 51.96 lakh pensioners, 37 percent are in the 60-70 age group, about 26 percent each are in the 70-80 and ‘Others’ age group. The balance of 11 percent are in the 80 plus category and thus entitled to enhanced pension based on advancing age. 7th CPC recommended for continuing existing rates of additional pension and additional family pension.

5. Granting additional pension / additional family pension from above the age of 80 years only covers 11% of old age pensioners and family pensioners. Pensioners / family pensioners from the age of 65 years incur more medical expenses due to their health conditions, high expenses for medical treatments, medicines, etc.

6. Hence it is requested that, Additional Pension / Family Pension may please be paid at following rates – in view of steep increase in the expenditure on Medical treatment and health care in old age and as recommended by the committee

a) 5% additional Pension/Family Pension after 65 years of age
b) 10% Additional Pension/Family Pension after 70 years of age
c) 15 % additional Pension/Family Pension after 75 years of age

Thanking you

Yours faithfully,
(Harchandan Singh),
General Secretary, IRTSA

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Implementation of MACPS w.e.f. 01.01.2006: IRTSA refers 110th report of parliamentary committee to Secretary Finance (Expenditure).

INDIAN RAILWAYS TECHNICAL SUPERVISORS ASSOCIATION

No: IRTSA/ CHQ/ MACPS/2022-1

Date:19.04.2022

Secretary Finance (Expenditure),
North Block,
New Delhi – 110001

Respected Sir,

Sub: Implementation of MACPS w.e.f. 01.01.2006.
Ref: 1. Recommendations of 110th report on “Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)”

MACP for the Central Government Employees

2 Our earlier memorandum dated 15.12.2019 (Copy attached)

1. We seek your kind intervention to consider and revise the date of implementation of MACPS w.e.f 1.1.2006 (instead of 1-9-2008) as per the recommendations of 110th report on “Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)”
2. In para 3.35 of 110th report on “Pensioner’s Grievances-Impact of Pension Adalats and Centralized Pensioners Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS)” submitted to Parliament on 10th December 2021, it was recommended that, “The Committee feels that DOPPW should pursue the matter of implementation of MACP w.e.f 1st January, 2006 with DoPT as it will give relief to pensioners retiring in the intervening period i.e. from January, 2006 to August, 2008 as all other benefits were given to them from January 2006 as per 6th CPC recommendations”.
3. In our earlier memorandum, we have submitted other detailed justifications including that of Judgement given by Hon’ble Supreme Court of India & Hon’ble High Court of Bombay, 6th CPC recommendations for implementation of revised scheme of Pay Bands and Grade Pay as on 01.01.2006 retrospectively and Government’s acceptance of the same, implementation of 6th CPC recommendations on Pay Band, Grade Pay and Dearness Allowance w.e.f.01.01.2006 vide Extraordinary Notification of Resolution No.1/1/2008-I C, dated 29.8.2008, revision of Non Practicing Allowance (NPA) effective from the date an employee drawing pay in the revised scale applicable to him in accordance with the provisions of the Railway Services (Revised Pay) Rules, 2008, i.e. w.e.f. 1.1.2006, etc
4. Therefore without diluting the scheme it is requested that MACPS may please be implemented from 1.1.2006 since MACPS is part of pay structure.

Supreme Court Order delaying the effective date of the MACP Scheme w.e.f. 01.01.2006

Thanking you

Yours faithfully,

(Harchandan Singh)
General Secretary, IRTSA

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Ministries/Departments of the Government sanction pension/family pension as per Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 1972 and send pension papers through Pay and Accounts Office and Central Pension Accounting Office to the pension disbursing agency, which is generally a public sector bank. This department monitors grievances of retiring employees/pensioners through Centralised Pension Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS). The department rigorously monitors the grievances registered under CPENGRAMS. Various reports are generated and examined on the cases of delay/ pendency/non-payment. There is no grievance case, including that of lonely women, pending for over 10 years. There is no proposal under consideration for opening of Fast Track Unit of pension to resolve old and pending cases.

This was stated by the Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office Dr. Jitendra Singh in a written reply to a question by Shri Anubhav Mohanty in the Rajya Sabha today.

PIB

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Government of India
Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

02-June-2014 15:31 IST

Awareness Programme Under Pensioner’s Portal

The Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions is implementing a web based mission mode project on pensions namely Pensioner’s Portal under the National e-Governance Plan. Under the project, the Department has Centralized Pension Grievances Redressal and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS). The Awareness Programme will be chaired by Mr. Sanjay Kothari, Secretary of the Department.

The Department is proposing to conduct the Awareness Programme for Pensioners in and around Dehradun on June 07, 2014 at Wadia Institute of Himalayan 33, Dehradun. The mobilization of the pensioners will be done in association with Government pensioners Association, Dehradun which is the identified pensioner’s Associations under the Pensioner’s Portal.
The basic objective of the project is to facilitate redressal of Pensioners’ Grievances as also to provide information and guidance to pensioners on various pension and retirement related matters. User Ministries/Departments, Pensioners, Banks, CGA.CPAO, Post Offices etc. are the stakeholders in this venture aimed at welfare of the Pensioners.

With a view to providing know how about the operational aspects of this portal and the grievances redressal mechanism in particular, the Department of Pensions is conducting Awareness Programme at different stations in the country. So far such programmes have been conducted at Chandigarh, Bangalore, Bhubaneswar, Pune, Lucknow, Thiruvanthapuram, Kolkata and Jallandhar for Pensioners/Pensioners’ Association who are major stakeholders.

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The pensioners grievances are registered and monitored through online Centralized Pension Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPENGRAMS), a web based application taken up under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP). To help pensioners lodge their grievances and to provide related information the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DOPPW) has identified 30 pensioner associations across the country. The pendency of the grievances is monitored by holding review meetings with nodal officers of Ministries/Departments and 7 such meetings have been held during the current financial year. This has resulted in redressal of about 22000 out of 29,000 grievances during the current calendar year (upto 12/12/2013).

These pensioners’ associations have been functioning as facilitators between the pensioners on the one hand and the pension sanctioning authorities on the other. The meetings of Standing Committee of Voluntary Associations (SCOVA), of which some Associations are the members, are held twice a year under the Chairmanship of Minister of State also to discuss the various issues pertaining to the pensioners.

Above information was given by Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pension in reply of undermentioned Lok Sabha Question:-

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA
MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL,PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS
LOK SABHA

UNSTARRED QUESTION NO 2169

ANSWERED ON 18.12.2013

PENSIONERS GRIEVANCES

2169 . Shri P.R. NATARAJAN

Will the Minister of PERSONNEL,PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS be pleased to state:-

(a) whether there is any Government mechanism available for redressal of pensioners` grievances;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the pensioners` associations, if any, have been accorded any legal authority to represent the grievances of pensioners; and

(d) if not, the reasons therefor?

ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PUBLIC GRIEVANCES AND PENSIONS AND MINISTER OF STATE IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE (SHRI V. NARAYANASAMY)

(a) to (d):  ** see above **

Source: Lok Sabha Q&A
via: Karnmk.blogspot.in

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