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The Kerala government has announced a massive social security scheme for millions of Keralites working outside the state, including foreign countries.
The Cabinet cleared the scheme, called 'Pravasi Swasarya Suraksha', after a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
The scheme will cover even those who have returned to the state after losing their jobs abroad.
The scheme will be implemented in collaboration with the Life Insurance Corporation of India. This will not cause any financial burden to the cash-strapped government, Chief Minister A K Antony said.
He said the nodal agency for implementing the scheme will be 'ROOTS-NRK Development Initiative', a company being incorporated by the government in place of Non-Resident Keralites Welfare Agency.
Sources in the Non-Resident Keralites Affairs department told rediff.com that ROOTS will act as an agent of the LIC for implementing the scheme.
The commission that the agency receives will be distributed among the members in the form of benefits or subsidy in contributions.
ROOTS will make available the entire basket of the LIC's schemes so that the members can opt for the one that suits them best. There will be different types of pension schemes, sources said. Different kinds of annuity options will also be available to those joining the scheme. They will be able to decide the exact nature of annuity six months before the date of vesting. The scheme has proposed low-premium endowment schemes to suit Gulf returnees, the sources added.
There are also non-life cover policies, which do not insist on stringent medical examination as a precondition for joining.
Only those above the age of 35 will be eligible to join the scheme. For those employed abroad, the scheme projects an annual contribution of Rs 20,000 for five years, following which a person will be entitled to a lifelong monthly pension of Rs 750.
In case a contributor dies before the five-year period, his or her dependant would get Rs 200,000. The same figure would also be applicable in the event of a contributor's death after he/she becomes eligible for pension.
The demand for such a scheme has been very strong from those working in unorganised sectors, especially in the Gulf, and self-employed people who do not enjoy the benefits of pension.
ROOTS chief executive Satish Nambudiripad claimed that the present scheme is one of the best in the country.
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