chapter iv existing social security...
TRANSCRIPT
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CHAPTER IV EXISTING SOCIAL SECURITY SCHEMES
4.1 INTRODUCTION
National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) is a welfare programme being
implemented in rural areas as well as urban areas and administered by the Ministry of Rural
Development. The NSAP represents a significant step towards the fulfilment of the Directive
Principles of State Policy enshrined in Article 41 of Constitution of India which enjoin up on
the state to provide public assistance to its citizen in case of employment, old age, sickness
and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want within its economic means.
Government of Karnataka is one among the states which came forward to protect the
old age people from further destitution since 1965. Similarly the physically handicapped
people are given pension since 1977 and in 1984 destitute widow pension was introduced. All
the three social assistance schemes have been implemented by the Revenue department
through the District Administration. Directly Taluk Office is fully responsible for the entire
processing of application and issue of orders and also ensure payment of pension. The
Treasury transfers the amount to post offices and post man delivers the OAP, DWP and PHP
to the beneficiaries.
In order to implement the social security schemes in an effective manner a separate
Directorate of Social Security and Pension was set up by the state Government in 2007. The
main objective of the new set up is to coordinate with departments implementing similar
social security programmes and monitor for timely action for effective implementation of the
programmes. The following Social Security Schemes and pension programmes are monitored
by the Directorate.
1. Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension
2. Destitute Widow Pension
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3. Physically Handicapped Pension
4. Annapurna
5. Sandhya Suraksha Yojane
6. Adarsha Vivaha Yojana
7. National family benefit Scheme
8. Anthya Samskara Assistance Scheme
9. Aam Aadmi Bima (Janasri) Scheme
For the purpose of the instant study OAP, DWP and PHP under the monthly pension
schemes and one time lump-sum assistance scheme National Family Benefit Scheme have
been chosen. The details of the above schemes are described below:
Old Age Pension Scheme (OAP): The existing Old Age Pension Scheme Guidelines were
modified in 2007 by Central Government and continued to implement as Indira Gandhi
National Old Age Programme.
The eligibility Criteria of Beneficiaries
a. For the purpose of claiming assistance the beneficiaries shall be 65 years of age and
above.
b. The applicant shall belong to household of BPL category and shall score 26 points or less
in 13 determining the socio-economic and educational status of the house hold as
identified by the Rural Development Ministry Government of India
c. The beneficiary shall not be a recipient of any kind of similar pensions from Government
on any private source.
d. The monthly pension is ` 400,of which Government of India meets ` 200 and it is
matched by the State Government.
e. The beneficiaries can avail the benefit if they are not under the care of anybody.
f. For proof of age, Birth Certificate, Medical Certificate or age mentioned in EPIC issued
by Election Commission of India.
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Destitute Widow Pension Scheme
The scheme is operationalised since 1984 in Karnataka State whereas Central
Government has recently introduced it under Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension
(IGNWPS).
Eligibility Criteria
a) A destitute widow who is 18 years of age or above.
b) A destitute widow is whose husband is not alive, or husband is legally declared as death
and who is not supported by her relatives and her income does not exceed ` 6000 per
annum. Annual income certificate is required.
c) The applicant or her husband shall be a resident for three consecutive years in Karnataka
before his death. A residential certificate is required.
d) The pension amount is ` 400 per month which includes ` 200 of central Government a
matching amount of ` 200 from the state Government.
e) The pension will be paid till her death or until she gets remarried or earns more than
` 6000 annual income through employment.
f) The proof of age is decided as per the birth certificate, Medical Certificate or EPIC issued
by election Commission of India.
g) Family Tree Certificate.
Physically Handicapped Pension (PHP)
The shcmee is in operation since 1977 in Karnataka State, the Central Government
has rolled out Indira Gandhi National Disabled Pension Scheme (IGNDPS) recently.
Eligibility Criteria
a) The pension is given to the blind, low vision, mentally retarded, hearing impaired,
mentally ill, locomotor disability and Leprosy cured persons.
b) The applicant should be not below of disability 40%. The medical authorised to issue as
per clause (+) of section 2 of the PWD Act.
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c) The pension amount is ` 400 per month of which the Central Government and State
Government Share ` 200 each.
d) The improved PHP scheme since 2008 provides ` 1000 per month for persons with have
of severe disability of 75% or more as per clause (4) of section 56 of PWD Act certified
by competent medical authority.
Sandhya Suraksha Yojana
This is a parallel scheme with liberal criteria compared to the existing OAP of the
state and IGNOAPS of Central Government. The persons of 65 years of age or more who are
in economic distress are granted ` 400 per month since 2008.
Eligibility Criteria
a) Persons belonging to following categories are eligible: Small farmers, marginal farmers,
agricultural labourers, weavers and fisherman. But the building and other construction
workers coming under Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Services Act,
1996 are not eligible.
b) Their total income of husband and wife should exceed ` 20000 per annum.
c) Their cumulative value of deposit should not exceed ` 10000.
d) They should not be receiving any Government or private pension.
e) Of the sons are not taking care of the parents.
f) The proof of age is determined on the basis of the medical certificate issued by the
competent medical authority or EPIC issued by the election Commission of India.
g) An affidavit
h) Family Tree Certificate
National Family Benefit Scheme
Government of India under the NFBS a BPL household is entitled to lump sum
amount of money on the death of primary breadwinner aged between 18 and 64 years. The
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amount of assistance is ` 10,000. The Anthya Samskara Scheme of the State provides ` 1000
at the time of death of the breadwinner for the prupose of cremation.
The National Assistance Programme was launched in 1995 by the Central Government
with an aim to ensure minimum national standard of living through social assistance, to the
most vulnerable sections of society. While NSAP has made significant progress in providing
financial assistance to the most vulnerable sections of society. It is felt that still there is need
to improve various aspects of the programme to make them more efficient and better
targeted. The scope of NSAP has been expanding since 2006-07 both in terms of physical
coverage and the budget allocation. The Budget of NSAP has increased nearly five times
from ` 1100 crores in 2005-06 to ` 5762 crores during the current financial year. The physical
coverage under the scheme is established to reach 230 lakh from 87 lakh in 2006-07. For the
existing number of beneficiaries in Karnataka, ` 1800 crores is spent out of which
Government of India is spending ` 350 crore and Karnataka Government spends ` 1450
annually towards the social security schemes.
Central assistance of ` 200 is provided to states and stated have been urged to
contribute at least ` 200 from state funds. The states were also requested to identify the
beneficiaries from BPL list 2002. The central Government has approved number of
beneficiaries to be given the assistance. Presently some states have reported more number of
beneficiaries than number of beneficiaries approved by the Ministry of Rural Development.
For the excess number of beneficiaries approval of Ministry of finance is required.
In Karnataka State OAP, DWP, PHP and lately SSY are popular schemes which implemented
since long. The schemes of both State and Centre are complementary to each other as far as
the contingency and risk is concerned. The share of pension amount from each of them is
` 200. But the SSY is fully borne by the State. At present in Karnataka there is no presence of
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IGNOAPS, IGNWPS and IGNDPS for the obvious reasons of stringent criteria of the
schemes shown in the table 4.1.
Table 4.1: Differences of criteria State Government Schemes Central Government Schemes
OAP a) Annual Income certificate not
exceeding ` 6000 b) 65 years (Non GAP is replaced by
IGNOAPS)
IGNOAPS a. Identify out of BPL list 2002 of
Rural Development Department b. 65 years and above (26 score or
below out of 13 points parameter) DWP a) 18 years and above
c) Annual income not exceeding ` 6000 and not under the care of relatives
c) Till death, remarriage or income above ` 6000
IGNWPS a. Age group of 40-64 years b. Widow living in BPL household c. Not extended beyond 64 years
PHP a) No age restriction b) Annual income of the house hold not
exceeding ` 6000 c) Disability 40% and above (` 400) d) Disability of 75 % and above for
monthly ` 1000
IGNDPS a) From the age of 18-64 years b) Belonging to BPL household c) Disability 80% and above d) ` 400 monthly pension
Procedure of implementation
Hitherto, applications were received in Taluk office. The Tahsildar in turn sent the
papers down to be enquired and reported by the field officials. The Revenue Inspector on
receipt of papers forwarded by Tahsildar would send to the concerned Village Accountant to
put up the facts of income, age, domicile, death certificate in case of widow pension and
obtain medical certificate for severity of disability for PHP cases. The Revenue inspector
would hold Mahazar a summary enquiry in the village in the presence of 5 villagers. The RI
sends the papers to Tahsildar through the Deputy Tahsildar. The papers are again processed
in the office and put up for orders of Tahsildar. The orders of sanction are sent through the
RI and VA to be distributed to the beneficiaries and simultaneously an order is sent to
treasury to effect payment to the beneficiaries. It is left to the Treasury to send pension to
beneficiaries through post offices in the form of Money Orders. In case of rejection of
application no further action is taken.
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OAP, DWP, PHP, Beneficiaries
Tahsildar (taluk level) (Back Office & Nemmadi Kendra)
FLOW CHART OF IMPLEMENTATION OF SOCIAL ASSISTANCE SCHEMES
Ministry of Rural Development Finance Ministry Government of India Government of India (Nodal Ministry) ACA Funds
Revenue Department Finance Department Government of Karnataka Government of Karnataka
Deputy Commissioner State Treasury (Chamarajanagar District)
Assistant commissioner Sub-Treasury (Kollegal sub-division)
Sanction order
Sub-Post Office
Branch Post Office
Processed applications Order/Certificates Application of and report beneficiaries is generated in Deputy Tahsildar Nemmadi Kendra Postman/ (hobli level) one operator Mail Deliverer
(hobli level) make payment
Revenue inspector Application for verification
Beneficiaries
Village Accountant receive orders/certificates electronically generated
Recent Changes in implementation Social Security Scheme
Government of Karnataka has advanced in taking service to village level through
decentralisation of powers and application of IT-enabled approach. The power to sanction the
social security schemes, OAP, DWP, PHP and SSY is delegated to Deputy Tahsildar in the
Nada Kacheri located in hobli headquarters which covers a cluster of villages. In order to
reduce the hardship and make the process transparent, e-Governance initiative is extended to
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the hobli headquarters by setting up of Rural Tele centres to register applications and issue
the orders speedily to social security applicants. Since 2006 in the entire state the social
security schemes are processed through Nemmadi Kendras.
Nemmadi Project (Tele Centre)
Government of Karnataka vision for the Nemmadi Tele Centre Project is that, IT
enabled government services should be accessible to the common man in village, through
efficient transparent, reliable and affordable means. Government of Karnataka has set up,
through Public Private Partnership model (PPP), a network of 800 Tele centres at hobli level
to deliver G2C and B2C services.
Objectives of the project
• To create efficient and smart virtual offices of the state Government at the village level.
• To provide copies of land records and 38 other citizen centric services of Revenue
Department.
• To enhance the accountability, transparency and responsiveness to citizens.
Salient features of Nemmadi Project
• Single widow for all government services at the village level.
• No need for any written application to be submitted for any service.
• Manual system to be stopped altogether.
• Uniform service charge of ` 15 for every service.
Expected Outcome
• Decentralisation of delivery of needs.
• To provide government departments and agencies means of efficient and cost effective
methods of service delivery to citizens.
• Freeing the departments from routine operations and increase the productivity of
administrative machinery.
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• Provide a single widow for request and delivery of e-governance services to the citizens.
• Cost effective, speedy and effective interface between the Government and citizens.
• Greater transparency, objectivity and accountability in delivery of government services.
• Employment of all the sections of society by facilitating them to gain knowledge about
their rights and privileges.
• Village level bureaucracy would be able to use this facility for transaction of data to
district and state headquarters.
• Creation of a citizen’s database on an incremental basis.
• Capacity building, literacy and employment of rural educated youth by helping them to
acquire proficiency in computers
Nemmadi Tele centres – at hobli level
Village Tele centres setup at hobli level are the primary channels for accepting citizen
requests and delivery of the certificates to the citizens. Subsequent to receiving the electronic
registration by the operator, the request is processed by appropriate authority for verification
and validation. On receiving the comments of such appropriate authority, the final certificate
or order is generated which are digitally signed. The certificate or order can now be
downloaded at the village Tele centre and issued to the applicant.
Various Services offered under Nemmadi Project
The twelve services related to social security pensions are listed below out of
40 services rendered in the Tele centre: They are, Birth Certificate, Death Certificate, Caste
Certificate, Residence Certificate, Ration Card, Income Certificate, Widow Certificate,
Living Certificate, Surviving Family Member Certificate, Old Age Pension, Widow Pension,
Physically Handicapped Pension.
There are 16 Nemmadi Kendras including five back offices at Taluk offices, rolled
out in 2006 in Chamarajanagar District. Among them eight of them were selected to evaluate
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the working system in the instant study. They are Terakananmbi and Hangala in Gundlupet
Taluk, Chamarajanagar and Haradanahalli Chamarajanagar Taluk, Hanur, Lokkanahalli and
Ramapura in Kollegal Taluk and Yelandur in Yelandur Taluk. Each centre is expected to
have two computers, and telephone, internet with web camera, printer, scanner and necessary
accessories. A single room accommodation with few chairs are provided and manned by
computer operators. But generally only one operator is appointed on a consolidated salary of
` 3000 per month by the private agency.
Monitoring the Nemmadi Kendra Performance
The functioning of Nemmadi Kendra can be constantly monitored by the state, the
District and Taluk Administration. Revenue authorities can constantly review and supervise
the progress through online reports, transaction reports, operator attendance reports,
pendency reports. The pendency of Nemmadi Kendra requests are available with authorities
like Tahsildar in Taluk Office and Back-office Operator and all Tele Centre Operator, etc.
The data is uploaded automatically to district and State from where the authorities can
supervise the working of Taluk officials and Nammadi operators. The pendency reports can
be used for questioning the officials if there are any undue delay in processing certain
requests. In this project programme of the Tele Centres monitoring by the district and state
headquarters are crucial. Verification and recommendation for sanction or issue of certificates
by the concerned authorities in the field play an important role in the timely service.
Delivery of Pension
The present delivery mechanism has been perceived to be inefficient due to high costs
to the revenue department on account of ` 40 crores of commission paid to the postal
department, stationary, etc, to print money orders. The delays in Treasury to transfer the fund
to post offices and Banks is matter of concern. Consequently, the worrying part is, the delay
in payment to beneficiaries in time every month. Hence Government of Karnataka has come
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out with a pilot programme to make payments through the Business Correspondents in
certain districts. This is to streamline door to door payments to the beneficiaries in a more
transparent manner than the existing payment through postman. The following chart
illustrates delivery of pension.
FLOW CHART OF NSAP FUNDS
Ministry of Finance, Government of India Additional Central Assistance
Finance Department, Government of Karnataka
State Huzur Treasury
District Treasury
Bank Taluk Treasury Sub Post Office
Branch Post Office Account Holders
drawing pension (Business Correspondent pays as per
Smart Card under Pilot Project) Branch Post Master/
Mail Deliverer
Beneficiaries receive
pension in their locality
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Issues in identification and coverage
At the time of inception of the scheme in 2007, IGNOAPS was estimated to cover
157 lakh beneficiaries. The states were requested to identify the beneficiaries from BPL list of
2002 which is available with the Department of Rural Development. At present, coverage
under IGNOAPS has reached 173 lakhs in the country. The coverage reported by Government
of Karnataka under IGNOAPS vis-à-vis approved number.
Table 4.2: Estimated approved number and coverage of beneficiaries under Central Government
State
Estimated no beneficiaries
and or IGNOAPS as per 2004-03
poverty estimates
Estimated no of
persons above 65
years as per BPL List
2002
No of beneficiaries approved by
Rural Development
ministry in the state
Coverage under
IGNOAPS during 2010-11
Karnataka 765500 733777 811726 804794
State and District
Estimated number under
IGNWPS
Reported under
IGNWPS
Estimated number under
IGNDPS
Reported under
IGNDPS
Estimated number under NFBS
Reported under NFBS
Karnataka 295476 325000 62251 90000 20797 22286 Source: Agenda Notes on Performance Review Committee Meeting (2009), Department of
Rural Development, Government of India. Table 4.3: Number and coverage under Social Assistance Schemes
Chamarajanagar District Taluk wise Scheme Beneficiaries (Treasury Data) Taluk Name DWP OAP PHP SSY Total
Chamarajanagar 9456 17374 3803 1153 31786 Gundlupet 7309 10090 2541 2183 22123 Kollegal 8697 14162 5077 1370 29306 Yelandur 2586 3603 1573 1784 9546
Total 28048 45229 12994 6490 92761 Source: Directorate of Social Security and Pension, Government of Karnataka. Stringent Criteria
One of the primary reasons cited for low coverage under IGNDPS was non-
availability of BPL persons with 80% disability and the factors attributed to this was non-
availability of medical certificate to ascertain the percentage of disability. The Government of
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India has in its guidelines provided to hold Block level medical camps to issue certificates to
the disabled population.
There is problem of mismatch existing with IGNWPS where the age eligible is
40-64 years, whereas it is 18 years and above in Karnataka like in many states. When people
can get the DWP of the state from 18 years, people should not be waiting upto 40 years to
claim IGNWPS of Government of India.
4.2 METHOD OF DISBURSEMENT
The Department of Financial Services has made arrangements with all the commercial
Banks to open no frill accounts for beneficiaries of the pension schemes as per the instruction
of Reserve Bank of India. Similarly Department of Economic Affairs has permitted post
offices to open zero balance accounts for the beneficiaries of pension schemes under NSAP as
in NREGS beneficiaries. Though all states are aware of both these decision, it has been
observed that many states are reluctant to shift from the present mode of disbursement
followed by them. There are reports of late disbursement.
A delay in transfer of the ACA funds from state finance department to the
implementing department was observed in many states. This results in the beneficiary not
receiving the pension in time. Though, pension, by default is to be a monthly payment, in
many states are not in a position to do so. The ACA funds are unfailingly released by the
Government of India within the first fortnight of every quarter. The states could advance the
necessary funds in advance so as to ensure a monthly payment, which subsequently could be
recovered from the ACA released by Government of India. The Hon’ble Supreme Court has
also issued necessary directives to effect that pension is to be paid by seventh of every month.
Grievances on under-payment of pension are being received from various sources.
This happens where the payment is made through Money Orders/Cash. To avoid
inconveniences to the beneficiaries, it was impressed upon the states to switch over to the
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system of providing a bank/post office savings account. Where there are problems for the
beneficiaries to access the bank etc, the Business Correspondent method has been suggested.
Table 4.4: Number of beneficiaries receiving pension through various modes in Chamarajanagar District
Bank/Post Office Account detail
Scheme Through Bank account Through Money order Total
number of beneficiaries
OAP 4625 40433 45058 DWP 4640 23803 28443 PHP 2622 10662 13284 SSY 6583 6583 Total 18470 74898 92761
Source: Revenue Department, Government of Karnataka as on October 2010. Utilisation of funds
Analysis of funds released to the states and utilisation made during the year
2010-2011 in the following Table 4.5. Karnataka is also among 21 states which has utilised
less than 50% of the funds. There is not one state which has utilised more than 80% of funds.
Certain states have a substantially large amount of unspent balance at the end of each
financial year which is being accumulated and carved forward to the next year.
Table 4.5: Statement of funds (in lakhs) Total O.B.
as on 01-04-2010
Total ReleaseTotal
Available Funds
Expenditure total
Expenditure %
ReportingMonth
2590.14 22485.00 25075.14 10166.45 40.54 July, 2010 Monitoring operationalisation of NSAP-MIS
In order to have transparency in disbursement of pension to the eligible persons, the
states should upload the data for public domain. The data gives the details of the beneficiaries
village wise. Karnataka has its own software and interface is required to be prepared. As
regards Chamarajanagar District the data has been updated and uploaded after due physical
verification process. The process is with biometric finger prints under way in two taluks in
the district. The final picture will emerge only after the smart cards are isused for payment.
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Table 4.6: Data base of Beneficiaries uploaded on NSAP website
IGNOAPS IGNDPS IGNWPS
State and District
Rep
orte
d
Ava
ilabl
e on
web
site
Dat
a G
ap
Rep
orte
d
Ava
ilabl
e on
web
site
Dat
a G
ap
Rep
orte
d
Ava
ilabl
e on
web
site
Dat
a G
ap
Karnataka 804794 1017320 0 90000 0 62251 325000 58110 237366Source: Ministry of Rural Development, Government of India (2009). Table 4.7: Total beneficiaries – physical progress of Social Security Programmes in
Karnataka State Sl.No. District OAP DWP PHP SSY Total
1 Bagalkot 12221 36630 24860 56534 130245 2 Bangalore Urban 45588 63646 29431 71767 210432 3 Bangalore (rural) 9199 9356 3618 14237 36410 4 Belgaum 66818 72122 61577 115619 316136 5 Bellary 31384 43928 24100 42957 142369 6 Bidar 20906 27478 22177 66241 136802 7 Bijapur 57995 45585 41657 55781 201018 8 Chamarajanagar 34218 24596 11957 14806 85577 9 Chickmagalur 6699 18288 10942 24624 60553 10 Chickballapur 15035 24356 13246 29701 82338 11 Chitradurga 9456 25968 23628 36944 95996 12 Davanagere 11614 38724 23864 62869 137071 13 Dharwad 17139 36968 22015 38553 114675 14 Gadag 27001 24476 19870 23171 94518 15 Gulbarga 57609 37883 30396 42443 168331 16 Hassan 55516 47510 21445 29787 154258 17 Haveri 10378 44951 29942 54021 139292 18 Karwar 4804 16616 10177 17851 49448 19 Kolar 27223 24976 12036 30815 95050 20 Koppal 16482 24729 19078 41597 101886 21 Madikeri 3392 9734 4186 10911 28223 22 Mandya 48012 71306 30423 54689 204430 23 Mangalore 6557 25904 14423 19164 66048 24 Mysore 45733 61021 30904 56006 193664 25 Raichur 26204 33081 15037 24798 99120 26 Ramanagara 36186 34816 15908 36102 123012 27 5himoga 8278 27256 18766 34088 88388 28 Tumkur 26536 47690 39428 74771 188425 29 Udupi 2253 21699 10440 32738 67130 30 Yadgir 10695 18176 9810 24465 63146
Total 751131 1039469 645341 1238050 3673991Source: Directorate of Social Security and Pensions,Government of Karnataka,October 2010.
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4.3 NEW INITIATIVES STRENGTHENING MONITORING AND TRANSPARENCY
Government of India has issued instructions to States after having increased scope and
budget of NSAP call for qualitative monitoring of schemes under NSAP for effective
implementation of programme. Government of Karnataka the scheme guidelines require the
village accountant to report annually 100% beneficiaries and Revenue Inspector and
Tahsildars are also expected to verify and certify. The VAS report is the living certificate to
the beneficiaries. The new initiatives undertaken are:
4.3.1 Annual Verification and Social Audit
Every year annual verification must be completed by the end of the first quarter of
each financial year. This is to enhance transparency and to strengthen monitoring of the
NSAP Schemes. As a part of social audit issues relating to process of application sanctions of
pensions and disbursements need to be discussed in Grama Sabha. However the Government
of India has not received response from any state in this regard. As regards Chamarajanagar
district first time a thorough physical verification is completed and the data base is created.
Table 4.8: Verification statement of OAP, DWP and PHP in Chamarajanagar district No. of ineligible cases after
verification
Taluk
As o
n 31
-01-
2010
No.
of s
anct
ione
d ca
ses
As o
n 31
.01.
2010
No.
of v
erifi
ed
bene
ficia
ries
Lef
t the
vi
llage
Dea
th c
ases
Foun
d in
elig
ible
Tra
nsfe
r ca
ses
Oth
er r
easo
n
Tot
al in
elig
ible
ca
ses
Chamarajanagar 22773 22773 24 89 ** ** ** 113 Gundlupet 17406 17406 154 7497 74 ** ** 7725 Kollegal 21871 21871 2 35 ** ** ** 37
Old
Age
Pe
nsio
n
Yelandur 7769 7769 28 337 51 2 4181 4599 Total 69819 69819 208 7958 125 2 4181 12474
Chamarajanagar 12602 12602 23 92 ** ** ** 115 Gundlupet 12178 12178 500 3400 10 8 1 3919 Kollegal 11213 11213 2 8 ** * ** 10
Des
titut
e W
idow
Pe
nsio
n
Yelandur 8623 8623 127 250 71 21 5402 5871 Total 44616 44616 652 3750 81 29 5403 9915
Chamarajanagar 4957 4957 12 292 ** ** ** 304 Gundlupet 3774 3774 60 760 7 20 4 851 Kollegal 6918 6918 5 18 ** ** ** 23
Phys
ical
H
andi
capp
ed
Pens
ion
Yelandur 3799 3799 36 86 19 23 2470 2634 Total 19448 19448 113 1156 26 43 2474 3812
Grand Total 118217 133883 973 12864 232 74 12058 26201
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Though the implementation of Social Security Schemes fall in line with the
Government of India, the State Government has modified the guidelines according to the
ability and resources of the State. But the revenue department is implementing right from the
inception of the Old Age Pension Scheme in Karnataka, there are guidelines for providing the
benefits along with specific instructions to conduct verification of beneficiaries among the
field officials. Recently, the State Government has made it is possible for operationalisation
of the MIS software and physical verification in certain districts including Chamarajanagar
district. Lately the smart cards are introduced as a pilot programme in Yelandur taluk.
Table 4.9: Statement showing number of beneficiaries qualified for Smart Card
Chamarajanagar Gundlupet Kollegal Yelandur Total
12718 12958 6899 7688 40263
Chamarajanagar district is pilot project of introduction delivery of pensions through
smart card application through business correspondent. The district is one of the most
backward districts in the state, accordingly, the feed back will have much value to replicate
the same to other districts.
4.3.2 Monitoring issues identified by Central Government
• Strengthening of district / block level infrastructure
• Annual verification of beneficiaries
• Conduct of social audit
• Creation of data base of beneficiaries
• Review of implementation by block / Zilla Panchayats
• Operationalisation of the MIS software.
• Operation manual (Compilation) of the various schemes.
These are some of the latest thoughts which are yet to be fully implemented by all the
states though Karnataka has made considerable progress in this direction.