Atal Pension Yojana poorly designed: Congress

The Congress on Tuesday, 25 March attacked the Modi government over the Atal Pension Yojana, alleging it is a "very poorly-designed scheme" and a "paper tiger" that needs officials to hoodwink and coerce people into participating in it.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the scheme is a "fitting representation of the Modi Government's policy making: headline management, with few benefits actually reaching the people".

His attack came after a media report claimed that nearly one of three subscribers who dropped out of the central government's pension scheme for the unorganised sector, the Atal Pension Yojana (APY), did so because their accounts were opened without their "explicit" permission. The report cited a recent sample study by the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR).

In a post on X, Ramesh said, "The Finance Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman) was in Bengaluru on the 24th of March, where she was proclaiming the benefits of the Atal Pension Yojana initiated by the Modi Government as its 'flagship social security programme'."

"Just a day later, here's what emerged: Up to a third of the subscribers to this scheme were enrolled into the scheme without 'explicit permission' by officers seeking to meet their quotas," he said sharing the media report on X.

Nearly 83 per cent of the subscribers are in the lowest slab of Rs. 1,000 pension, because the monthly contribution for it is low and it goes "unnoticed" by the beneficiaries, he said.

For subscribers, the amount of return is not very attractive since it is a fixed income pension, which loses value with rising prices, Ramesh said.

"The 'flagship' Atal Pension Yojana is a very poorly-designed scheme, a paper tiger that needs officials to hoodwink and coerce people into participating in it. It's a fitting representation of the Modi Government's policy making: headline management, with few benefits actually reaching the people!" he said.

Atal Pension Yojana (APY), a pension scheme for citizens of India is focused on the unorganised sector workers. Under the APY, guaranteed minimum pension of Rs. 1,000/- or 2,000/- or 3,000/- or 4,000 or 5,000/- per month will be given at the age of 60 years depending on the contributions by the subscribers.