At Rs 1430 cr, Centre decides to extend BPL pension benefits

The increased pension will cost the exchequer Rs 1,430 crore and has been provided as additional allocation in the Union Budget of 2006-07. The National Old Age Pension Scheme is one of the three components of the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) that was introduced by the Congress government in 1995. The other two components of the NSAP are the National Family Benefit Scheme and the National Maternity Benefit Scheme.

Under the pension scheme, destitutes over 65 years of age were granted Rs 75 as pension till now. The Cabinet today also decided to extend the tenure of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission headed by Veerappa Moily by one year.

The Commission constituted last August was to submit its report to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by August 31, 2006. The Commission, that has very wide and exhaustive terms of reference with 53 points under 13 broad areas, will be doing its work in a phased manner. It has already submitted its first report called Right to Information Master Key to Good Governance on June 9. It is expected to submit the reports on crisis management, Public Order and National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) as part of financial management shortly. In the second phase, the Commission proposes to submit its reports on organisational structure of Central government, ethics in governance, refurbishing public administration and local self government/Panchayati Raj institutions.