The Jharkhand government has significantly expanded its pension coverage in various categories since taking office in December 2019, according to data from the Department of Women, Child Development, and Social Security. In the first 19 years after separating from Bihar in November 2000, 6.6 lakh individuals were registered as pensioners in five categories. This number has now risen to 21.45 lakh as of March 27 this year.
The state provides pensions to five groups: the elderly, particularly vulnerable tribal communities, widows, separated/destitute/deserted or abandoned women, and the disabled. Approximately Rs 2,400 crore was spent on pensions in the current fiscal year.
Chhavi Ranjan, Director of Social Welfare, stated that increasing pension coverage is a “top priority.”
“We have included 15 lakh beneficiaries as the state government has made the entire scheme universal. Now, only two criteria remain for exclusion: being an income tax payer or a retired pensioner. The government spends Rs 2,600 crore annually on universal pensions alone,” he said.
The largest increases have been in old-age pensions, with beneficiaries rising from 3.45 lakh to 14.25 lakh, and disability pensions, which increased from 87.7 thousand to 2.2 lakh.
Chief Minister had initiated the “Sarkar Aapke Dwar (government at your doorstep)” outreach program in all districts twice, which boosted registrations. An official stated, “We were instructed to include as many elderly individuals as possible in the pension scheme. Jharkhand has a predominantly rural population, and most eligible individuals have now been included, resulting in a significant increase.”
Awareness about disability pensions is low, and the certification process for identifying individuals as specially abled is lengthy. Efforts have been made in several districts to address this issue. For example, in Gumla, with a population of 12 lakh, only 10,154 unique disability ID cards were issued between 2000 and last year.
To rectify the low enrollment, District Collector Sushant Gaurav conducted a door-to-door survey in Gumla to identify differently abled individuals. As a result, 8,054 new persons were identified, representing an 80% increase. All of them were made beneficiaries of the disability pension.
Criticism has been directed at the Jharkhand government for allegedly excluding several widows from the pension scheme. Jharkhand Janadhikar Mahasabha (JJM) raised concerns about women facing difficulties in obtaining death certificates after their husbands passed away, particularly in remote areas.
Siraj Dutta, a JJM member, highlighted that many elderly and widows are still excluded due to a complex application process and difficulties in rectifying errors in age records. The issues have been raised with ministers and bureaucrats multiple times.
While the issue was acknowledged, department sources noted that changes to the process of issuing death certificates are subject to the Registration of Birth and Death Act and cannot be altered until specific rules are established by the state government.
