Finance Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday announced the "Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Mandhan", a scheme to provide an assured monthly pension of Rs 3,000 per month for workers in the unorganised sector who earn up to Rs 15,000 per month.

While presenting the Interim Budget for 2019-20 in the Lok Sabha, Goyal said the scheme will benefit 10 crore workers and might become the world's biggest pension scheme for the unorganised sector in the next five years. 

"Half of India's GDP comes from the sweat and toil of 42 crore workers in the unorganised sector. We must provide them a social security coverage," said Goyal. 

He said the mega pension scheme will benefit all workers under the unorganised sector including household helps, rickshaw pullers, agricultural labourers and beedi workers. 

Under the scheme, the workers will receive a monthly pension of Rs 3,000 after attaining 60 years of age. 

A worker joining the scheme on attaining 29 years of age or above will have to contribute Rs 100 per month while those joining at the age of 18 will have to contribute Rs 55 per month. The government will contribute equal matching share in the pension account.

Goyal said this scheme will be in addition to the life insurance scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) and accident insurance scheme under the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY). 

In order to provide assured income support for small and marginal farmers, the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi has also been approved.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi, Rs 6000 per year for each farmer, will be transferred directly to farmers' bank accounts in three installments, for farmers with less than 2 hectares land holding.

With IANS inputs