Media lauds Post Office's Contribution to Atal Pension Scheme

The role of the post offices in Mumbai in popularising the Central Government’s ambitious social security scheme Atal Pension Yojana (APY), has come up for praise from the media repeatedly. The latest commendations came from  Navbharat, who on 1st April 2016 reported on the outstanding success of Dadar Head Post Office in taking this pension scheme to large number of its intended beneficiaries.

APY attempts to prepare the country to face the growing challenge of population ageing. As birth rates drop and life expectancy increases an ever-increasing proportion of the population is elderly. This leaves fewer workers for each retired person, impacting the growth and development of the economy. It also means that a large section of the population enters the stage of life where they cannot support themselves financially. In India, where only about 10% of the population has the protection of some pension scheme or other, population ageing can become a national challenge, unless addressed early.

APY aims to bring security to ageing Indians while at the same time promote a culture of savings and investment among the lower and lower middle class sections of society. The scheme has been carefully designed, keeping the weaker sections of society and their requirements in view. In the words of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, the Atal Pension scheme will create “a universal social security system for all Indians that will ensure that no Indian citizen will have to worry about illness, accidents or penury in old age”

Post offices in Mumbai have played a notable role in creating awareness about this new scheme. A total of 22,000 enrolments have been secured by the different post offices in Mumbai Region, which is more than the contribution of most of the commercial banks.   The efforts of the post offices have been appreciated by the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA), the nodal agency for the APY scheme.

The report in Navbharat (please see image) mentions the special drive launched by the Government of India for popularizing Atal Pension Yojana, in which the Dadar Head Post Office of Mumbai East Postal Division secured the first position across India by opening 713 new APY accounts. This two-day event was organized by PFRDA during 9th and 10th March 2016. The news report also carries a picture of the highly motivated Mumbai East Division team led by the Senior Superintendent Of Post Offices, Simran Kaur, and supported Assistant Superintendents of Post Offices, Yadgiri Nyaylapalli  and Lata Kodwani.