Using family ID, 1.5L added to old age pension scheme in UP | Lucknow News
Lucknow: The department of social welfare has added more than 1.5 lakh beneficiaries to its old age pension programme in this financial year, using data from the family ID programme, reports Neha Lalchandani. A senior official from the department said that with the family ID programme now being used more extensively, departments are getting access to better and more precise data on families in the state. The department has since been comparing the family ID data with the old age pension data available to them and started identifying persons eligible for the pension but not availing the scheme. “The data was shared with the district social welfare officers and then officials in the blocks and tehsils. These officials went to each such person for verification, took their consent to add them to the list of beneficiaries, and over the past three to four months, more than 1.5 lakh new beneficiaries have been added to the list,” the official said. Old age pension of Rs 1,000 per month is issued every quarter to beneficiaries through direct bank transfer. In the first quarter of 2025-26, more than 61 lakh persons received the pension. The state govt has set a target of 67.5 lakh people for payment of old age pension in 2025-26, a figure the department aims to reach through family ID verification and identification of new beneficiaries under the Zero Poverty programme. The scheme is open to citizens of UP above the age of 60. The annual income limit for eligibility is Rs 56,460 in urban areas and Rs 46,080 in rural areas. The family ID programme has also helped in the deletion of those beneficiaries who are either deceased or ineligible, though the department also carries out a six-monthly exercise to confirm beneficiaries. This is done through physical verification of beneficiaries, a system that is set to be simplified. Social welfare minister Asim Arun said that the process of verification of senior citizens at gram panchayat level is being rolled out and eventually, pension disbursal will go into auto mode without making beneficiaries be physically present for verification. “Through the database we have, we will know how many people in the state are above 60 years or, for that matter, how many will turn 60 in the next few months and their family income. Instead of putting them through the trouble of filing applications, we will verify personally, probably through a phone call, whether they are alive, and get consent for the pension so that it can go on auto disburse mode,” the minister said.
