On the directions of the Prime Minister of India, Department of Pension & Pensioners' Welfare (DOPPW) launched an online platform titled 'Anubhav' in March 2015. It is a means for retiring/retired employees to showcase significant achievements made during their service period.

On 28th August, 2024, DOPPW is organising 7th Anubhav Awards Ceremony since its inception in 2016.  It is noteworthy that till date, 54 Anubhav Awards and 09 Jury Certificates have been conferred in 6 ceremonies.

This year, write-ups from 22 Ministries/Departments have been published out of which 5 Anubhav Awards and 10 Jury certificates will be conferred by Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions, to the outstanding write-ups. This award ceremony is unique as 33% percent of the total 15 awardees are women employees, the highest ever in the history of 'Anubhav'. It indicates their growing role and contribution in the Governance. DOPPW will also release a short movie and Citation Booklet, to celebrate and highlight the professional achievements of 15 awardees.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare will be organizing the 55^th Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshop under the august presence of Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Ministry of Personnel, PG & Pensions in the Plenary Hall of Vigyan Bhawan on 28^th August, 2024.

The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has been conducting Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshops, throughout the country, as part of Good Governance, to facilitate officials who are about to retire, in the superannuation process. The 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 this workshop, the retiring employees will be provided relevant information related to the retirement benefits and pension sanction process.

In order to facilitate the smooth transition for the retiring employees, various sessions on BHAVISHYA Portal, Integrated Pensioners Portal, Retirement Benefits, Family Pension, CGHS Rules, Income Tax Rules, ANUBHAV, Digital Life Certificate, Investment Opportunities, etc. will be 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 & Planning will be organized to enable the retirees to plan investment of their retirement funds well in time. There will also be a detailed session on the CGHS System, CGHS Portal, Facilities provided as well as Procedures to be followed to avail CGHS benefits.

It has also been decided to organise “Banks’ Exhibition” during the PRC Workshop, wherein all 18 Pension Disbursing Banks will be participating.  All pensioners’ related banking services will be made available to the participants.  Banks will also guide the retirees on opening of pension account and investment of pension corpus in various schemes suitable to them.

It is expected that about 1,200 officials, due to retire upto 31/03/2025, will be highly benefited from this Pre-Retirement Counselling (PRC) Workshop. The Department will continue to hold such workshops, as part of Good Governance, to ensure a smooth and comfortable transition for Central Government retirees.  The department is taking all efforts to keep them updated of the Government initiatives being taken so that they can continue to avail all the benefits, post retirement also.

The Department of Pension and Pensioners Welfare will conduct the 11th Nation-wide Pension Adalat under the chairmanship of Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions at New Delhi on 28.8.2024.

Redressal of Pensioners Grievances is a high priority area for the Government. For speedy resolution of Pensioners Grievances Pension Adalat are being organized by DOPPW in which multiple stakeholders are brought on one platform for on-the-spot redressal. In all Pension Adalats across country, 17,760 cases were resolved (74 percent redressal rate).

The 11th Pension Adalat will focus on resolution of long outstanding Super Seniors Pension Cases. The Pension Adalat would be attended by 22 Ministries/Departments including Ministry of Home Affairs, Department of Defence Finance, Ministry of Commerce, Department of Ex-Servicemen’s Welfare, Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs, Ministry of Railways etc. 298 cases pertaining to Ministries will be discussed.

The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has developed an “Integrated Pensioners’ Portal” using Bhavishya platform as the base to provide a Common Single Window Portal for pensioners and elderly citizens. The State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, Bank of Baroda and Bank of India are already integrated their Pension Portals with the Integrated Pensioners’ Portal. Union Bank of India will join this league tomorrow.  Presently, 4 facilities viz. Monthly Pension Slip, Status of Life Certificate, Submission Form 16 of the pensioner and Due & Drawn Statement of pension arrears paid, are being provided by these Banks. The goal is to integrate all Pension Disbursing Banks with this portal for a unified user experience.

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KSY/PSM