New Delhi: In a move aimed at providing relief to the senior citizens, finance minister Arun Jaitely in his Budget announced that there would be no tax for income up to Rs 3 lakh.
The government has also decided to revive the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana as a pension scheme for senior citizens. Under the scheme a total number of 3.16 lakh annuitants are being benefited and the corpus amounts to '6,095 crore.
“I propose to revive the scheme for a limited period from August 15, 2014, to August 14, 2015, for the benefit of citizens aged 60 years and above,” the finance minister told the Lok Sabha in his maiden Budget speech.
The finance minister said a large amount of money is estimated to be lying as unclaimed amounts with PPF, Post Office, saving schemes etc. These are mostly out of investments belonging to the senior citizens and on their demise, remain unclaimed for want of relevant payment instructions.
Propose to set up a committee to examine and recommend how this amount can be used to protect and further financial interests of the senior citizens. The committee will give its report not later than December this year,? the finance minister added.
The Union government is fully committed to the social security and welfare of employees serving in the organised sector.
The government is notifying minimum pension of Rs 1,000 per-month to all subscriber members of EP Scheme and has made an initial provision of Rs 250 crore in the current financial year to meet the expenditure. Further, increase in mandatory wage ceiling of subscription to EPS from Rs 6,500 to Rs 15,000 has been made and a provision of Rs 250 crore has been provided in the current Budget.
For the convenience of the subscribers, EPFO will launch the “Uniform Account Number” service for contributing members to facilitate portability of Provident Fund accounts.
