Ahead of the new year, the Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, took a series of people-friendly decisions.
OROP overhaul
The government on Friday approved revision of pension of armed forces personnel under ‘One Rank One Pension’ scheme with retrospective effect from July 1, 2019 and the decision will benefit around 25 lakh pensioners.
The decision taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will result in an additional annual expenditure of Rs 8,450 crore, according to the defence ministry.
It said Rs 23,638 crore will be paid as arrears to the pensioners from July 2019 to June 2022.
“The Union Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has approved revision of pension of armed forces pensioners/family pensioners under One Rank One Pension (OROP) with effect from July 1, 2019,” the ministry said in a statement.
It said the pension of the past pensioners would be re-fixed on the basis of average of minimum and maximum pension of defence forces retirees of calendar year 2018 in the same rank with the same length of service.
The armed forces personnel retired up to June 30, 2019 (excluding those retired pre-maturly (PMR) with effect from July 1, 2014 will be covered under this revision, according to the ministry.
More than 25.13 lakh (including over 4.52 lakh new beneficiaries) pensioners and family pensioners will be benefitted from the decision, it said.
Govt makes foodgrain free of cost for 81.35 cr people under NFSA for 1 yr
In a pro-poor move, the government on Friday decided to provide free foodgrains to 81.35 crore people for one year under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) at an estimated cost of Rs 2 lakh crore.
Currently, the beneficiaries covered under the NFSA pay Rs 1-3 per kg.
Under the Act, foodgrain is allocated at 5 kg per person per month for priority households category and at 35 kg per family per month for Antodaya Anna Yojna (AAY) families at highly subsidised prices of Re 1, Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg for coarse cereals, wheat and rice, respectively.
With the Cabinet decision on Friday, beneficiaries under NFSA will get foodgrains free of cost for one year till December 2023.
The decision comes days ahead of the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) ending on December 31, 2022.
Govt hikes copra MSP
The government has increased the minimum support price(MSP) of milling copra by Rs 270 per quintal and ball copra by Rs 750 per quintal.
The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved Minimum Support Prices (MSPs) for copra for 2023 season, an official statement said.
The approval is based on recommendations of the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) and views of major coconut growing states.
“The MSP for Fair Average Quality of milling copra has been fixed at Rs 10,860 per quintal and for ball copra at Rs 11,750 per quintal for 2023 season. This is an increase of Rs 270 per quintal for milling copra and Rs 750 per quintal for ball copra over the previous season,” the statement said.
