Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-Dhan Yojana launched: Everything you need to know

Eligibility

• The unorganised sector workers, with income of less than Rs 15,000 per month and who belong to the entry age group of 18-40 years, will be eligible for the scheme.
• Those workers should not be covered under New Pension Scheme (NPS), Employees’ State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) scheme or Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
• He or she should not be an income tax payer.

Who are the workers of unorganised sector?

The workers of unorganised sector can be home based workers, street vendors, mid-day meal workers, head loaders, brick kiln workers, cobblers, rag pickers, domestic workers, washer men, rickshaw pullers, landless labourers, own account workers, agricultural workers, construction workers, beedi workers, handloom workers, leather workers, audio- visual workers and similar other occupations.

Benefits under Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maan-dhan Yojana

Minimum Assured Pension: Each subscriber under the scheme will receive minimum assured pension of Rs 3000 per month after attaining the age of 60 years.

In case of death during receipt of pension: If the subscriber dies during the receipt of pension, his or her spouse will be entitled to receive 50 percent of the pension as family pension. This family pension is applicable only to spouse.

In case of death before the age of 60 years: If a beneficiary has given regular contribution and dies before attaining the age of 60 years, his or her spouse will be entitled to continue the scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution or may even exit the scheme.

Contribution to the scheme

Contribution by the Subscriber: The subscriber is required to contribute the prescribed contribution amount from the age of joining the scheme till the age of 60 years.

Medium of contribution: The subscriber can contribute to the PM-SYM through ‘auto-debit’ facility from his or her savings bank account or from his or her Jan- Dhan account.

Equal contribution by the Central Government: Under the PM-SYM, the prescribed age-specific contribution by the beneficiary and the matching contribution by the Central Government will be made on a ‘50:50 basis’.

For example, if a person enters the scheme at an age of 29 years, he or she is required to contribute Rs 100 per month till the age of 60 years and the equal amount of Rs 100 will be contributed by the Central Government.

Note: The Contribution amount for the first month shall be paid in cash for which they will be provided with a receipt.

Enrolment Process

The subscriber is required to have a mobile phone, savings bank account and Aadhaar number for enrolling in the scheme. The eligible subscriber may visit the nearest Common Service Centers (CSCs) and get enrolled using Aadhaar number and savings bank account on self-certification basis.

Later, the government will also come out with a web portal and mobile app on which the subscribers can self-register using Aadhar number and savings bank account on self-certification basis.

Enrollment agency: The enrolment will be carried out by all the Community Service Centers (CSCs). 

Exit and Withdrawal

Considering the unpredictable nature of employability of these workers, the exit provisions of scheme have been kept flexible. These provisions are:

• In case subscriber exits the scheme within a period of less than 10 years, the beneficiary’s share of contribution only will be returned to him with savings bank interest rate.
• If subscriber exits after a period of 10 years or more but before 60 years of age, the beneficiary’s share of contribution along with accumulated interest will be returned.
• If a beneficiary has given regular contributions and died due to any cause, his/ her spouse will be entitled to continue the scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution or exit by receiving the beneficiary’s contribution along with accumulated interest.
• If a beneficiary has given regular contributions and become permanently disabled before 60 years of age and is unable to continue to contribute, his/ her spouse will be entitled to continue the scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution or can exit the scheme by receiving the beneficiary’s contribution with interest.
• After the death of subscriber as well as his or her spouse, the entire corpus will be credited back to the fund.

Facilitation Centres and arrangements to be made by them

All the branch offices of Life Insurance Corporation (LIC), the offices of ESIC, EPFO and all labour offices of Central and State Governments will facilitate the unorganised workers about the Scheme, its benefits and the procedure to be followed.

In this respect, the offices of LIC, ESIC, EPFO and all Labour offices will make following arrangements for the ease of reference:

• Setting up of a “Facilitation Desk” to facilitate the unorganised workers and guide about the features of the Scheme and direct them to nearest CSC. Each desk may consist of at least one staff.
• They will have sufficient number of brochures printed in Hindi and regional languages to be provided to the unorganised workers.
• Unorganised workers will visit these centres with Aadhaar Card, Savings bank account/ Jandhan account and mobile phone.
• Help desk will have onsite suitable sitting and other necessary facilities for these workers.
• Any other measures intended to facilitate the unorganised workers about the Scheme, in their respective centers.

Other highlights

Fund Management:  PM-SYM will be a Central Sector Scheme administered by the Ministry of Labour and Employment and implemented through Life Insurance Corporation of India and CSCs. LIC will be the Pension Fund Manager and responsible for Pension pay out.

Default of Contributions: If a subscriber has not paid the contribution continuously, he or she will be allowed to regularise his contribution by paying entire outstanding dues along with penalty charges.

Pension Pay Out: Once the beneficiary joins the scheme at the entry age of 18-40 years, the beneficiary has to contribute till 60 years of age. On attaining the age of 60 years, the subscriber will get the assured monthly pension of Rs 3000.

Doubt and Clarification: In case of any doubt, clarification provided by the Directorate General Labour Welfare (DGLW) will be final.