Even when the central share for social security pension is not coming and the state is passing through a tough financial crisis, the state government will continue to distribute social security pension including arrears from January 2021 to all eligible beneficiaries. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said.
The government allocated Rs 750.78 crore for pension distribution to 50,20,611 beneficiaries in January and Rs 7,53.13 crore in February.
Steps have been taken to link the Sivana software with the Public Financial Management System (PFMS) software application being used by the Panchayat Department to provide the central share of the National Social Assistance Program (NSAP) to the beneficiaries.
While during 2011-16, the UDF government spent Rs 9,311.22 crore on social security pensions, the LDF government is spending more than three times that amount, Rs 30,054.64 crore. While the UDF government gave pension to 34,43,414 beneficiaries, the number has increased to 49,85,861 under the LDF government.
Mr Vijayan claimed that the LDF government not only paid pension arrears of ₹1,473 crore earned under the previous UDF government, but also increased all social security pensions to ₹1,600.