In line with the vision of Government of India’s initiative, to enhance the “Ease of Living” for pensioners and family pensioners, the Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has introduced several progressive measures in pension policy and the digitization of pension-related processes. As part of these ongoing efforts, the Department will be organizing the 56^th Pre-Retirement Counselling Workshop under the esteemed guidance of Dr. Jitendra Singh, Hon’ble Minister of State, PMO, Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions. The workshop is scheduled to be held on 10th April 2025 at Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati.

The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare has been conducting Pre- Retirement Counselling workshops, throughout the country, 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 direction of ‘Ease of Living’ of the pensioners. In order to facilitate the smooth transition for the retiring employees, various sessions on Retirement Benefits, CGHS, Investment modes, BHAVISHYA portal, Integrated Pensioners Portal, Family Pension, CPENGRAMS, ANUBHAV and Digital Life Certificate 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.

It is expected that 310 retirees, due to retire in the next 12 months, will benefit hugely from this Pre-retirement Counselling Workshop. The Department will continue to hold such workshops to ensure a smooth and comfortable transition for Central Government retirees, keep them informed of the government initiatives taken for them and to enable them to avail all the benefits available post-retirement.

Department has also integrated pension portals of PNB, SBI, Bank of Baroda, Canara Bank, Bank of India, Central Bank of India and Union Bank of India to provide seamless banking services to pensioners from a single portal. Since the major Pension Disbursing Authorities are banks, the Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare has started a series of Awareness Workshops for Central Pension Processing Centers (CPPCs) of Banks as well as their field functionaries handling pension related work in the Bank. In this series, the Department will also be conducting 9^th Bankers’ Awareness Program for the officers of State Bank of India, posted at CPPCs/Branches of North-East, West Bengal, Bihar and Odissa, at Assam Administrative Staff College, Guwahati on 10th April, 2025.

The objective of these workshops is to spread awareness of the various rules and procedures relevant for Pension Disbursing Banks/Retirees and also the steps being taken by Government of India to ensure “Ease of Living” for Pensioners. The workshop shall also focus on the issues faced by Bank officials in handling these processes so that to reduce pensioners’ grievances. 70 officers from CPPC and pension dealing branches of State Bank of India are participating in these interactive programs. The Department will continue to hold such workshops, as part of Good Governance to ensure a smooth and comfortable transition for Central Government retirees, keep them informed of the government initiatives taken for them and to enable them to avail all the benefits available for them, post-retirement.

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NKR/PSM