Telangana Pension Update: Senior Citizens, HIV Patients Among 4 Categories Excluded from Fresh Enrolment

Hyderabad: Amid the Telangana government’s preparations to sanction new pensions under the Cheyutha Social Security Pension Scheme, four major categories — senior citizens, people living with HIV, beedi workers and beedi thekadars — have been left out of the current fresh enrolment process.

Nearly 41 lakh beneficiaries are currently receiving financial assistance under the Cheyutha pension scheme in Telangana. The scheme covers 11 categories, including senior citizens, widows, persons with disabilities, toddy tappers, weavers, people living with HIV, filaria patients, dialysis patients, beedi workers, single women and beedi thekadars.

Officials expect around three lakh fresh applications in the current phase. However, applications are presently being accepted from only seven categories, leaving the other four categories outside the current enrolment process.

The issue is particularly significant for senior citizens. The previous BRS government had reduced the eligibility age for old-age pensions from 65 years in 2014 to 57 years in 2022. The monthly pension was also increased from Rs. 1,000 in 2014 to Rs. 2,016 in 2022.

During the BRS government’s tenure, nearly 16.44 lakh senior citizens were receiving the Rs. 2,016 monthly pension. The number has since declined to around 14.31 lakh for various reasons.

Officials said applications from senior citizens are still being received, but their details are currently not being uploaded online. An official from the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty said there were no clear government instructions regarding the processing of new senior citizen pensions. The applications may be processed and sanctioned in the next phase, the official said.

Beedi workers and beedi thekadars have also been excluded from the current fresh enrolment process. At present, around 4.20 lakh beedi workers and 3,749 beedi thekadars are receiving pensions.

According to officials, beedi workers are largely concentrated in parts of the erstwhile Nizamabad, Adilabad and Karimnagar districts. They also noted that the number of people entering the profession has declined over the years.

The exclusion of people living with HIV is another significant issue. During the BRS government, more than 37,000 beneficiaries in this category were receiving pensions. The number has now increased to over 46,000, yet fresh enrolment under the category is currently not being allowed.

The Congress government renamed the Aasara pension scheme as Cheyutha after coming to power. During the 2023 Assembly elections, the Congress had promised to increase the monthly pension for beneficiaries across categories from Rs. 2,016 to Rs. 4,000. Nearly three years later, the promised increase has still not been fully implemented.

The state government has now decided to sanction fresh pensions on a priority basis to eligible people from vulnerable sections of society. Applications received through Praja Palana, the 99-Day Pragathi Pranalika Gram Sabhas and Prajavani will be processed through the Cheyutha portal.

Applicants who have already submitted their applications along with the required documents do not need to apply again. Their applications will undergo online data entry, field-level verification and departmental confirmation wherever necessary.

The applications will subsequently be scrutinised and approved by the District Collector. Once approved, online sanction proceedings will be generated and the pension benefits will be distributed to eligible beneficiaries as per the prescribed procedure.

The key question now is when the government will open fresh enrolment for senior citizens, people living with HIV, beedi workers and beedi thekadars, who have been left out of the current phase.