The government has clarified the beneficiaries will have to remain officially single to be eligible for the pension. The live-in partners are not entitled to get the benefit.
The government on July 1 started a pension scheme for unmarried people aged between 45 and 60 years, whose annual income is less than Rs 1.80 lakh.
However, for widowers and widows of the same age group their annual income is not above Rs 3 lakh.
Each beneficiary will be issued an identity card by the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment based on the family identity card, an official told IANS.
The beneficiary, if get married, will have to inform the department otherwise he or she will be penalised with the recovery of the total amount along with 12 per cent interest.
Also, if the person is drawing any other pension he or she will not be eligible for the unmarried pension, he added.
According to government data, there are 65,000 unmarried men and women and 5,687 widowers or widows in the state.
The pension for unmarried will bear an expense of around Rs 240 crore annually.
–IANS
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