Up to the end of calendar year 2019, 3.98 million people had joined the scheme. By the end of 2020, this number had risen to 4.47 million. In 2021, only 1.1 million people participated in the scheme.
The pace of registration under the voluntary and non-contributory pension schemes guaranteeing a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 from the age of 60 for domestic workers, rickshaw drivers and other low earners is picking up again. Against just 46 registrations in October 2021, the lowest since the start of enrollment under the scheme in March 2019, several thousand people signed up for the scheme every month since December 2021.
However, the number of registrations in the previous two months under the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan Yojana (PMSYM) was higher: 82,505 in December and 28,190 in January 2022, official data shows.
LIC is the fund manager of the scheme.
Workers in the age group of 18-40 years with a monthly income of Rs 15,000 or less and who are not members of the EPFO, ESIC or NPS can participate in the scheme. They will also have to contribute from Rs 55 to Rs 200 per month depending on their age to participate in the scheme.
The government makes a matching contribution as that of the beneficiary. The scheme was announced in 2019 with the aim of covering 10 million such workers in five years. Just over 4.6 million people have joined the scheme until March 16 this year.
Up to the end of calendar year 2019, 3.98 million people had joined the scheme. By the end of 2020, this number had risen to 4.47 million. In 2021, only 1.1 million people participated in the scheme.
“Due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the related lockdown, the bidding round under the PMSYM scheme was negatively impacted,” said a government official. Experts also said that the loss of income of these workers in the unorganized sector due to the pandemic and a lack of decisiveness with which the government implements the scheme were responsible for the lower additions under the scheme.
This post Pension scheme for low earners picks up after rest
was original published at “https://www.financialexpress.com/money/pension-scheme-for-low-earners-picks-up-after-a-lull/2464882/”
