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Informist, Monday, Jul. 28, 2025

NEW DELHI - The government has received 7,253 claims till Jul. 20 under the Unified Pension Scheme, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha on Monday. Of these, 4,978 claims have been processed for payment of benefits under the scheme, she said.

"As per eligibility criteria, there are 25,756 retired central government subscribers eligible to receive additional benefits under Unified Pension Scheme. These eligible subscribers are those central government employees who have either superannuated or deceased or retired under Fundamental Rules 56(j), on or before 31st March 2025, after completing 10 years or more of qualifying service and were covered under National Pension System," she said.

The Unified Pension Scheme, which came into effect from Apr. 1, aims to provide an assured pension, family pension, and assured minimum pension for government employees. To address the demand for assured returns, the government decided to roll out the scheme in which 50% of the average basic pay drawn in the past 12 months prior to superannuation for a minimum qualifying service of 25 years would be given as an assured pension. For those with less than 25 years but over 10 years of service, the assured sum would be a proportionate amount calculated on a pro-rata basis.

The pension scheme originated due to discontent among states, particularly those ruled by Opposition parties, with the New Pension Scheme not having a 'defined benefit' feature like the Old Pension Scheme. This became a political hot potato and forced the Centre to set up a committee led by current Cabinet Secretary T.V. Somanathan to look into the matter.

"Based on the representations from employees and associations, the cut-off date to opt for Unified Pension Scheme was extended for a period of three months up to 30th September, 2025," Sitharaman said.  End

Reported by Sagar Sen

Edited by Subhojit Sarkar

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