Govt to evaluate old age pension scheme

The Centre has decided to evaluate a major old age pension scheme involving Rs 5,200 crore (Rs 52 billion) for undertaking mid-course corrections.

The evaluation of the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme would cover 30 states, a rural development ministry official said.

"The government is spending Rs 5,200 crore (Rs 52 billion) in 2009-10 and the benefits of such expenditure need to be measured and the implementation problems need to be identified for undertaking mid-course corrections," he said.

"Now that the IGNOAPS is two years old, it is the right time to conduct concurrent evaluation. A decision has been taken to get the programme evaluated in each state through reputed institutions or organisations," he said.

Officials said the broad objective of the study is to evaluate the extent to which the programme has achieved its aim and find out the factors responsible for its progress and suggest remedial measures needed to overcome the difficulties.

Specific objective of the evaluation will include documentation of the extent and type of benefits received by BPL families from various social security schemes being implemented by the government, he said.

Officials will also evaluate the selection procedure adopted to identify the beneficiaries in states and see whether the BPL list was used in this regard.

They will also assess the level of awareness and clarity about the scheme amongst the stakeholders besides assessing the existing monitoring and supervision mechanism and its effectiveness at various levels.