 "Pension")
The Centre disbursed over Rs 2.41 trillion in pension to more than 6.57 million pensioners including 2.093 million family pensioners during 2022-23, the Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Personnel, Public Grievances, and Pensions Jitendra Singh said in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
During 2022-23, civil pensioners received a total pension of Rs 40,811 crore. Telecom pensioners received Rs 12,448 crore, whereas railways pensioners received Rs 55,034 crore. Postal pensioners received Rs 8,214 crore. Defence pensioners received a total pension of Rs 1.25 trillion.
The reply was given on the basis of information provided by the Central Pension Accounting Office (for Civil Pensioners), Office of Controller General of Defence Accounts (for Defence Pensioners), Department of Telecommunications (for Telecom Pensioners), Railway Board (for Railway Pensioners), and Department of Posts (for Postal Pensioners).
The minister said that there is no proposal to increase the amount of minimum pension/family pension. The amount of minimum pension under the central government is Rs 9,000 per month.
On June 22, the finance ministry said that the finance secretary-headed committee to review the pension system for government employees is in the process of consulting stakeholders and is yet to finalise its report.
The ministry, in April, set up a committee under Finance Secretary T V Somanathan to review the pension scheme for government employees and suggest any changes, if needed, in the light of the existing framework and structure of the National Pension System (NPS). The panel was to deliberate on whether any changes are required to the NPS, and suggest measures that will improve pensionary benefits for government employees while maintaining fiscal prudence for the exchequer.
