Old-age pension norms relaxed

Move to facilitate assistance of ₹1,000 to more persons

11/03/2020, DENNIS S. JESUDASAN, CHENNAI

The Tamil Nadu government recently relaxed the guidelines for the grant of old-age pension (OAP) to eligible persons, in a move that is expected to allow more people to avail themselves of the monthly financial assistance of ₹1,000.

According to a communication from Commissioner for Revenue Administration J. Radhakrishnan to District Collectors across the State, amendments have been made to the Tamil Nadu Old Age Pension Rules.

With the amended guidelines, persons having fixed assets valued at less than ₹1 lakh are eligible to get the OAP. Earlier, the slab was ₹50,000.

The official communication defined a ‘destitute’ as a person without any income or source of income and owning fixed assets of less than ₹1 lakh in value, and who has no relatives of 20 years of age. The government has also decided to relax the guidelines further to make persons who have been assigned a free house eligible for OAP.

Rigid guidelines

A senior officer explained that certain rigid guidelines had prevented several genuine persons from getting OAP. “During our field trips to several areas, we realised that many genuine persons were not able to get OAP due to some restrictions,” he said. For instance, in some cases, elderly persons had an acre of barren land but earned no income from it, and were struggling to make ends meet.

“We realised that OAP was not being granted to them even though they are truly the needy,” he said. Even in cities like Chennai, those evicted from riverbanks, who were once allotted a house in slum board tenements, were not able to get OAP.

Currently, around 31 lakh people benefit from OAP granted by the Tamil Nadu government.