Differently abled dependents to now get family pension for life: Ministry of defence

The defence ministry has decided to raise the income criteria for granting family pension to siblings or children, of dead pensioners, who are suffering from physical and mental infirmities.

Currently, differently-abled siblings or children of a dead pensioner are eligible for family pension only if their monthly income from other than the pension, is not more than Rs 9,000, along with the component of dearness allowance.

The ministry of defence on 29 September in a statement said the rules have been altered to make the dependents eligible for family pension for life, provided their total income from sources apart from the pension “remains less than the entitled family pension at an ordinary rate that is 30% of the last pay drawn by the deceased government servant/pensioner concerned plus the dearness relief admissible thereon”. The ministry added that, in such cases, the financial benefit will come into effect from February 8, 2021.

In October last year, the ministry had revised the rules regarding the next of kin of soldiers receiving enhanced ordinary pension, removing the clause of seven years of continuous service that was required to qualify for the benefit.

For the next of kin of soldiers who died during service, the government had allowed the family pension at a rate of 50 percent for 10 years from the date of the soldier’s death, without any upper age limit.

The government added that in cases where the service personnel passed away after retirement/release/discharge/invalidment with a pension, the enhanced ordinary pension would be granted for a  period of seven years from the date of the personnel’s death or up till the age of 67 years, whichever is earlier.

As per the ministry, the requirement of continuous service for seven years was also done away with from the date of 1 October 2019. It also added that families of soldiers who died within 10 years of service before the aforementioned date, without completing the clause of seven years of service, would also be eligible for enhanced family pension.

from Firstpost India Latest News https://ift.tt/39TXJk9