What Is Sevana Pension Scheme And Who Are Its Beneficiaries?

Kerala leads the nation in social safety measures, with many popular schemes for different sections of society. Despite these benefits reaching 3.6 million people, administrative delays and duplications in the application process have hindered the effective distribution of pensions to all. To address this issue, the government launched the Sevana pension app, covering seven welfare schemes and lakhs of beneficiaries under a single platform. The app was developed to streamline the pension delivery and record-keeping process to avoid omissions and other mistakes. Its implementation has significantly increased the efficiency of local governments in service delivery. Under the Sevana pension scheme, the economically weaker people of Kerala, including senior citizens, receive monthly pensions from the state government. Also Read: NPS Is For Retirement Savings, Shouldn’t Be Merely Used For Tax-Saving, Says Max Life’s Ranbheer Dhariwal The platform, developed under the Information Kerala Mission (IKM), manages various central and state government pension schemes for old age, widows, single women aged above 50, physically and mentally challenged people, and the unemployed.

Services Provided Under Sevana Platform

The application process uses IKM’s Soochika software to accurately capture the pensioners’ details and process pension disbursals based on schemes and funds for each category. It also provides details of approval from the local governments and other relevant agencies. People can also check the beneficiary lists, arrears, pension revision information, etc., on the platform. Bills are generated in a specified format for treasury submission. Money orders are printed on specially supplied stationery by India Post, where electronic money is not accepted. Further utilisation certificates are provided as per the prescribed format. Also Read: What Should Seniors Look For In An Automobile? 6 Things You Must Have For Road Safety

Scope Of Development

The government plans to introduce Aadhaar into the system to avoid fraud and duplication. It intends to bring more social welfare schemes under the platform for people's convenience and timely delivery of the government's welfare measures. The state government also plans to amend the Act to allow local governments to disburse welfare benefits to people directly. This step is further expected to improve the state's pension disbursal mechanism. It also aims to integrate all the state databases to boost the efficiency of the delivery mechanism.