Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday proposed to increase Rs 250 per month in old age pension. With this, the same will be increased to Rs 2,750 from Rs 2,500 per month, Khattar said while presenting the state budget for the financial year 2023-24. Also, Rs 13,000 crore will be allotted for pensions alone as part of Budget proposals.
About Haryana's old age pension scheme
This is a state scheme under which senior citizens of Haryana domicile in the age group of 60 years and above are given Old Age Samman Allowance as per eligibility criteria laid down in the rules of the scheme.
Eligibility criteria
At present, any person is eligible for the grant of Old Age Samman Allowance if,
i.) The person is of age 60 years or more;
ii.) The person is domicile and resident of Haryana State; and his/her income from all sources together with that of his/her spouse does not exceed Rs 2 lakh per annum.
Excluded category
Any person receiving pension from any government or local/ statutory body or any organisation substantially financed by any government or local/ statutory body will not be eligible to receive allowance under the scheme.
'Pension' wherever occurring in any government notification concerning social security benefits means and includes, income received or accrued from accumulated earnings, including provident funds, or annuities from any source including commercial banks, financial institutions or insurance.
Other Budget proposals
The Haryana government decided to launch Pandit Laxmichand Kalakar Samajik Samman Yojna, a pension scheme for artists. Under this scheme, artists will be given Rs 10,000 per year based on some parameters. Details of this scheme are yet to be released.
Additionally, Khattar said that no fresh tax will be imposed. He proposed Rs 1,83,950 crore state budget for the year 2023-24, an increase of 11.6 percent over the revised estimates of Rs 1,64,808 crore.
