Jharkhand, which claimed to be the only state to have a universal pension scheme for the elderly, widowed and disabled in November last year, has embarked on another ambitious mission.

“Acting on directive of chief minister Hemant Soren, all the district administrations have been directed to conduct door-to-door surveys to identify beneficiaries of social security pensions and link them with these schemes,” said a release issued by the state information and public relation department on Thursday evening.

According to an estimate made by the state government, over 15 lakhs people were yet to be covered by the Sarvajan (Universal) Pension Yojana.

“The estimation was drawn after reviewing the number of voters above 60 years mentioned in the voters list and district wise number of beneficiaries receiving old-age pension.

“The process has started from Thursday onwards wherein such door-to-door surveys would be conducted at each of the 24 districts and identify and link the beneficiaries with respective pension schemes,” a source in the chief minister’s secretariat informed.

“Teams are being formed at each polling centre (around 30,000) in their respective blocks by the Block Development Officers (BDOs) in rural areas and circle officers in the urban areas.

“Each of these teams is furnished with details related to the voters’ list of the various polling booths, eligibility of beneficiaries for various schemes as well as adequate number of forms.

“The team comprising booth level officers (BLOs), Anganwadi Sevikas, and Sahayika will conduct door-to-door surveys for physical verification and after obtaining necessary documents of eligible beneficiaries so far deprived of the benefits of various social security schemes,” said the release.

“The team would help in filling up the form of the eligible beneficiaries not having the required documents and submit it to the district administration so that necessary steps are taken by the concerned department to furnish the beneficiaries with necessary documents to avail pension,” the release added.

During the launch of the universal pension scheme in November 2021, the chief minister had announced that it was the only of its kind scheme in the country wherein monthly pension of Rs 1,000 will cover all eligible beneficiaries by creating an open window and the implementation process made simple getting rid of the documentation process.

A revolving fund of Rs 100 crore had been allocated for the scheme under which every citizen above 60 years of age, widows and destitute women above 18 years of age, single women above 45 years, disabled citizens above five years of age and anyone suffering from AIDS, except income taxpayers and those working or retired from the public sector and government unit, were eligible to benefit from the scheme.

Before the launch of the scheme, the total number of beneficiaries in various pension schemes operated under the state scheme was around nine lakh.

After the implementation of the scheme, the total number of beneficiaries increased to above 13 lakh.