The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare (DoPPW) organized the 54^th Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshop for the benefit of Central Government Employees, posted across Jammu & Kashmir, who are going to retire during the next 9 months, at the State Convention Centre, Jammu on 19.07.2024, under the august presence of Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State for Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions.

The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has been conducting Pre- Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshops, throughout the country, as part of Good Governance and Citizen Centricity, to facilitate officials who are about to retire, in the superannuation process. The 54^th such Workshop, being held for the benefit of retiring employees of the Government of India, is a revolutionary step in the direction of ‘Ease of Living’ of the pensioners.  In the workshop, the retiring officials have been provided relevant information related to the retirement benefits and pension sanction process.

Union Minister Dr.Jitendra  Singh addressed the participants and informed that in keeping with the Citizen Centric approach of the government, a number of initiatives have been taken by the Department, making it vibrant and revolutionizing the Ministry of PPG&P.  The latest technology has been used for the benefit of pensioners, resulting in various platforms such as Bhavishya, CPENGRAMS and Digital Life Certificates. The introduction of compiling experiences of retiring Central Government employees on the Anubhav Portal is a big step towards creating a research manual, incorporating their experiences, which can be used by Central Government employees for enhancing knowledge and capacity building. A number of reforms have been made by doing away with rules, which were an impediment, such as rules pertaining to missing employees and family pensioners. The Vision 2047 of the government envisages contribution from all stakeholders which includes pensioners and especially senior citizens.    

In order to facilitate the smooth transition for the retiring employees, sessions on BHAVISHYA Portal, Integrated Pensioners Portal, Retirement Benefits, Family Pension, CGHS Process, Income Tax Rules, ANUBHAV, Digital Life Certificate, Investment Modes and Opportunities; etc. were conducted.   All these sessions have been curated to make the retirees aware of the process to be followed and forms to be filled pre-retirement and to provide information about the benefits available to them post-retirement.

A detailed session on the various Investment Modes, their benefits & investment planning was also organized to enable the retirees to plan investment of their retirement funds well in time. There was also a detailed session on the CGHS system, CGHS portal, facilities provided as well as procedures to be followed to avail CGHS benefits.

Pension disbursing Banks (SBI, PNB and J & K Bank) participated in bank exhibition, where pensioner related banking services were made available. Banks also guided the retirees on opening of pension account and investment options of pension corpus.

More than 340 retirees, who are going to retire in the next 9 months, benefitted hugely from this Pre-retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshop. The workshop ended on a positive note of the Department to continue to hold such workshops, as part of Good Governance to ensure a smooth and comfortable transition for Central Government retirees. The department is sustaining all efforts to keep them updated of the Government initiatives being taken so that they can avail all the benefits, post retirement.

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KSY/PSM