Pensioners in Social welfare Schemes through Sankalp initiated by DOPT

Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions

25-June-2014 21:25 IST

MoS (Personnel) Dr. Jitendra Singh addresses pre-retirement counseling programme

The retirement issue is to be handled with social mindset – says Dr. Jitendra Singh

The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare conducted a pre-retirement counseling for retirees here today. Addressing the concluding session the Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the issue of retirement is to be handled with social mindset. The MoS stated that the society should feel good about it. He stated that the issue is too large to handle by the government itself and hoped that social organization should come forward to help.

The Department of Pensions has institutionalised regular conduct of pre-retirement Counseling workshops. These workshops target retiring personnel two to two-and-a-half years before the retirement date. Topics covered are (i) Formalities to be covered for timely payment of retirement dues (ii) Financial planning for the amounts received at retirement (iii) Preparation of Will (iv) CGHS facilities after retirement and (v) Post-retirement opportunities through Sankalp.

The “Sankalp’ programme has been initiated by the Department towards this end and a web portal of the same name has also been launched. Pensioners, Pensioner Associations and NGOs can register on the website http//www.pensionersportal.gov.in/sankalp.

Recognising the fact that a retiring government employee is very often unprepared to face the fact that he may be without a daily routine and a meaningful existence the day after he retires, the Government is looking for ways to engage the retired employees in meaningful social work.

There are approximately 40,000 fresh retirees every year from the Central Government Civil establishments alone. This number could be close to 1,00,000 including defense, railways, posts and telecom. In addition there is a pool of around 50 lakh existing pensioners. This group of personnel can, by and large, offer greater maturity, experience and stability. With improved living conditions and the best of medical facilities, most of these retiring government employees would be capable of putting in a good 5-7 years of active service. Further, the financial requirements are by and large taken care of by the regular monthly pension payments which are also inflation indexed. What that hurts is a sense of not being wanted anymore and the lack of a daily routine.

Realising the potential of such a large section of experienced, capable and productive workforce, the Department of Pensions and Pensioners’ Welfare has conceptualised such pre-retirement counseling sessions for retirees. This serves as a platform for exchange of information between retiring employees and voluntary or other organisations working towards building society looking for expertise, skill and maturity which can be offered by these retired government servants. The forum will serve to facilitate matching of broad parameters of geographical location and basic skills/ expertise required/ available. Both employees and organisations will have to register on to this portal.

Another possibility is to bring together groups of like-minded pensioners /Pensioners’ Associations and the ministries which are looking for concurrent audit or evaluation of development schemes being implemented all over the country.

The stakeholders identified for the project are:

Supply side:

a) Pensioners

b) Pensioners Associations identified by the Department involved in pensioners welfare

Demand side:

a) Organisations involved in Social welfare projects

b) Government Departments having Social welfare schemes

c) Indian Institute of Corporate affairs for CSR activities

d) Corporate-Public and Private with CSR funds

Source: PIB News