VIJAYAWADA: The TDP-led NDA government in Andhra Pradesh has decided to prioritise widow pensions as part of a major expansion of social security schemes, with disbursals set to begin from June. The decision comes as the government prepares to complete two years in power on June 12 and enter its third year. The rollout is being positioned as a key welfare initiative to mark the occasion. While the existing “spouse pension” category is already in force—providing relief to families where a deceased beneficiary’s spouse continues to receive pension benefits—widows whose spouses were not pension beneficiaries have so far remained outside the safety net.
Addressing this gap, the government has now decided to extend pensions to such widows. The move follows representations from ruling party legislators to Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, urging him to clear pending widow pension applications. Acting on these requests, the government has decided to sanction pensions to all eligible widows in one go. According to estimates by the Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty, around 1.53 lakh eligible beneficiaries have been identified under the widow pension category across the state.
Each beneficiary will receive Rs 4,000 per month, resulting in an additional burden of about Rs 61 crore per month on the state exchequer. In a parallel move, the government is also likely to clear pensions for newly identified differently abled persons. Nearly one lakh individuals who obtained disability certificates over the past two years have been awaiting inclusion under the pension scheme. Their applications are now expected to be taken up alongside the widow pensions. Officials said the identification and verification process has largely been completed through village and ward secretariats, paving the way for the rollout from June. The initiative is aimed at strengthening the social safety net by covering vulnerable sections who were previously left out of the pension framework. Detailed guidelines on implementation, including timelines for disbursal and grievance redressal, are expected to be issued shortly.
