UP Govt To Auto-Enrol Elderly For Pension Through Family ID System, Over 8 Lakh To Benefit

Senior citizens in Uttar Pradesh will no longer need to visit government offices to apply for their old-age pension. The state cabinet on Friday approved a system that will automatically identify eligible elderly persons using the Family ID database and begin their pension from the month they turn 60.

The move, implemented under the National Old Age Pension Scheme and aligned with the ‘One Family, One Identity’ initiative, is expected to benefit over 8.25 lakh elderly residents. The government will incur an additional expenditure of Rs 990 crore for this rollout.

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Minister of State for Social Welfare (Independent Charge) Asim Arun said that 67.5 lakh senior citizens currently receive pensions, but many eligible individuals miss out due to the application process. To address this, the Family ID system will now “push” data of citizens approaching 60 within the next 90 days to the Social Welfare Department’s pension portal via API integration.

Before sanctioning the pension, the department will obtain consent from the beneficiary through SMS, WhatsApp, phone calls, or physical contact if required. Consent and biometrics can be submitted through the pension portal, Gram Panchayat Sahayaks, Common Service Centres, or via door-to-door services offered by CSCs.

After automatic identification and consent, pension sanctioning will be completed within 15 days using digital signatures. The sanction letter will be sent by post, and payments will be transferred directly to the Aadhaar-linked bank account of the beneficiary. Updates on each transaction will be provided via SMS, and a dedicated mobile app will offer passbook-like payment details.

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The pension may be temporarily halted if data analysis flags any discrepancies, such as income tax payments, and will resume once verified. Permanent discontinuation will apply in cases such as non-submission of annual life certificate, exceeding income limits, death of the beneficiary, voluntary withdrawal, or other grounds of ineligibility. The department is also developing a mobile app for submitting life certificates.

Officials said data analysis, quality checks, and strict action on complaints will be prioritised to prevent irregularities.