The ambitious scheme "Abhay Hastam" (Hand of Reassurance), providing pension to every member of women's self help group after crossing the age of 60, will be launched by Andhra Pradesh government from November 1, the Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy said on Thursday.
The scheme covering the entire one crore members of the self help groups in the state will be the biggest of its kind in the world.
The Chief Minister also announced that the Life Insurance Corporation has been appointed as the fund manager for the scheme which will have both the members and the state government as the co-contributors.
"Under the scheme every woman, who has crossed the age of 18 and is the member of self help groups in the state will be covered," the CM said while directing the officials to take up the work on the scheme in mission mode to ensure its launch on schedule.
Every member of the SHGs will contribute Rs 30 per month and the state government will make an equal contribution towards the premium. "When a member crosses the age of 60 she will start getting the monthly pension ranging from Rs 500 to Rs 200 depending upon the quantum of her contribution. The scheme will provide financial security to the women in their old age," he said.
If a woman starts making her contribution from the age of 18 years, she will be able to draw the maximum pension of Rs 2,200 per month on attaining the age of 60 years. If the monthly contribution amount is increased later on, the amount of monthly pension could also be higher.
The other benefits the Abhay Hastham would offer women include insurance against disability and death up to the age of 59 years. In case of natural death the nominee would get an amount of Rs 30,000 and in case of accidental death the payment would be Rs 75,000.
In case of the death of the member, her school-going children will get a monthly scholarship of Rs 1,200 per annum. In case of subscriber dying after 60 years of age, her fund would be transferred to the nominee.
All the members of SHGs will be enrolled by the middle of this month to develop the data base and contributions will be collected from them.
"The process of handing over the data and fund to the LIC will be completed by October end and policy bonds would be handed over to one crore women on November 1," an official press release said.
The state government has earmarked an amount of Rs 365 crore in the budget for financial year 2010 towards its contribution to the scheme.
