Two Years of Accomplishments

In 2013-14, the then government spent Rs 1349.64 crore on various pensions to approximately the same number of people. Compare that to Rs 5,700 crore presently being disbursed a year.

To secure a dignified life to all the poor and vulnerable, particularly, the old and infirm, the State Government embarked upon one of the largest welfare schemes in the country.

The Chandrababu Naidu Government launched distribution of the most comprehensive social security pension scheme under ' NTR Bharosa ' to various categories of beneficiaries soon after taking over the adminstration in 2014. Under the Scheme, the various pension from Rs. 500 to Rs 1000 per month to Persons with Disabilities( PwD) having 40-79 percent disability and to Rs. 1500 per month to those with 80 percent disability and above is a milestone.

The Government has been paying the increased pensions since October 2, 2014 onwards. Authenticated, Aadhaar linked pensions have been provided to nearly 43 Lakh pensioners in 2015-16. The Government has been spending a monthly outlay of over Rs. 460 Crore and a total annual

( Chief Minister’ s Office Real-time Executive) dashboard has been developed to monitor pensions closely. Aadhaar Seeding has been taken up in campaign mode to ensure beneficiary level data is authenticated and unique. The current status is 98 percent( 85,61,450( Rural- 68,31,870 + Urban-18,85,456) members of the 87,17,326 total members) of SHG members data is Aadhaar seeded.

The earlier government was spending a little more than Rs 100 crore a month on pensions. In 2013-

S.	District	Old Age	Weavers	Disabled	Disabled	Widow	Toddy	ART	Grand
No				(>= 80)	(< 80)		Tappers	Pensions	Total

1	Srikakulam	145015	4173	8212	23425	98090	659	2303	281877
2	Vizianagaram	123694	2321	15576	21059	94156	993	2346	260145
3	Visakhapatnam	154698	2354	12532	26028	127901	1072	3420	328005
4	East Godavari	235199	8657	25531	37843	175921	3295	5415	491861
5	West Godavari	192607	3339	26021	19353	106365	1996	3683	353364
6	Krishna	149660	5292	23484	24126	136168	2754	3328	344812
7	Guntur	193022	6598	20367	23126	130100	895	5409	379517
8	Prakasam	159716	6556	13502	19893	95830	158	4043	299698
9	Nellore	121242	4728	9265	21582	95416	948	2586	255767
10	Chittoor	210539	5766	17855	29640	135588	306	2342	402036
11	Kadapa	130144	8913	11299	21317	81008	52	1402	254135
12	Anantapur	213174	11651	17410	39166	118774	193	3185	403553
13	Kurnool	150131	3725	21503	19143	124765	163	269	319699
	Total	2178841	74073	222557	325701	1520082	13484	39731	4374469

pensions to the underprivileged sections have been dramatically increased. In spite of the challenging financial situation, the Chandrababu Naidu Government enhanced social security amounts five-fold- from Rs. 200 to Rs. 1000 per month to Old Age, Widow, Weavers, Toddy Tappers and AIDS patients.

The Government also enhanced the outlay of roughly Rs. 5700 Cr on the scheme.

The Tab based distribution of payments is a first of its kind initiative in the entire country in public service delivery where the Government is going to the doorstep of each beneficiary, making pensions an entitlement in the truest sense of the word. The CORE

14, the then government spent Rs 1349.64 crore on various pensions to approximately the same number of people. Compare that to Rs 5,700 crore presently being disbursed. Another important feature is that the Chandrababu Naidu Government has ensured that there is no scope for leakage in the disbursement of pensions to nearly 44 lakh people every month. v JUNE 2016 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE. ORG 21

Andhra Pradesh Magazine English June 2016 | Page 21

To secure a dignified life to all the poor and vulnerable, particularly, the old and infirm, the State Government embarked upon one of the largest welfare schemes in the country.