The LDF government on Monday sanctioned the second of the five installments of the social welfare pensions it had left unpaid during the 2023-24 fiscal year.
So, 62 lakh beneficiaries in Kerala would receive Rs 3,200 as welfare pension this month; the usual monthly pension of Rs 1,600 plus the arrear of Rs 1,600. 

Finance Minister KN Balagopal's office said that Rs 1,604 crore had been sanctioned for the payment of both the arrears and the standard amounts. The money will reach 26.62 lakh beneficiaries' bank accounts. For the rest, it will reach their doorsteps through cooperative banks.  

The government had promised to pay three more instalments of social welfare arrears during the coming 2025-26 fiscal year. The first instalment (Rs 1,600 per beneficiary) was paid in September of this fiscal year during Onam.

During the 2023-24 fiscal, the LDF government had failed to pay social welfare pensions for five months. The CPM had identified this as one of the major reasons for the party's huge defeat during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. 

In July, in a major act of public repentance, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan read out a statement in the Assembly in which he admitted to the failure and promised to pay up the arrears in five installments. The CM, however, argued that arrears were not caused by the state government's policies but by the centre's determination to throttle Kerala's finances. 

He said the Centre's decision to consider as Kerala's borrowings the loans taken by Kerala Infrastructure Investment Fund Board (KIIFB) and Kerala Social Security Pensions Limited (KSSPL) had drastically curtailed Kerala's borrowing limit. The CM said that Kerala was deprived of Rs 12,560 crore.

Apart from this, the CM argued that Kerala's share in the central divisible pool shrunk from 2.505 per cent during the 14th Finance Commission period to 1.92 per cent during the tenure of the 15th FC.

Further, the CM said that Kerala had scant support from the Centre for paying the welfare pensions. According to Kerala government figures, the Centre's share constitutes just 2% of the monthly welfare pensions disbursed.

While Kerala grants monthly welfare pension of Rs 1,600 each to 62 lakh beneficiaries, the Centre's welfare support is only for 6.8 lakh beneficiaries, or less than 11 per cent of the total, and this too a maximum of Rs 500.  

There are five kinds of social welfare pensions in Kerala: : Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension, Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension, Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension, Pension for Unmarried Women above 50 years and Agriculture Labour Pension. In addition to these, there are 16 welfare board pensions.

The Centre extends financial support only to three of these: the National Old Age Pension, the National Old Age Pension, and the National Disability Pension. 

For instance, Kerala pays Rs 1600 as old age pension till the age of 79. In this, the Centre's share is Rs 200. For pensioners above 80, the Centre's share is Rs 500. For handicapped and widow pensioners, the Centre's share is Rs 300 out of the total Rs 1,600.

What's more, the finance minister's office says that the Centre has not been paying its share in the welfare pension since November 2023. From then on, the unpaid amount has grown to Rs 419 crore. For more than a year, the Centre's share is being paid out of Kerala's pocket.