United Nations Public Service Awards Case Studies

Social Security is one of the important dimensions of the development process. It assumes a place of social significance in the developing countries, where poverty, destitution and income inequalities abound in large measure. While growth is an important precondition for expanding the scope of social security, no less important is the need for adopting special social security policies. The welfare measures are intended to secure for the citizens adequate means of livelihood and raise the standard of living. In order to secure dignified life to all such vulnerable people, Government of Andhra Pradesh initiated number of pro-active welfare measures by implementing various pension schemes i.e., Old Age Pensions through Rural Development Department, Widow Pensions through Social Welfare Department, Disabled Pensions through Disabled Welfare Department and Weavers’ Pensions through Handloom Department.

While implementing these pension schemes through various departments, Government of Andhra Pradesh came across certain operational difficulties viz., release of funds by different departments at different points of time, distribution of pension to the needy on different dates by different departments, irregularity in payment of pension to the beneficiaries, improper mechanism to monitor whether such benefits reached the drown trodden, improper filling-up of death vacancies, disbursement of pension in private premises and preparation of acquittances manually etc.

Major challenge faced by the Government has been lack of transparency and the resulting non-accountability in managing the massive social protection scheme. The focus has been to create an enabling environment to facilitate tansparent disbursal of pensions.

What is the initiative about? (the solution)
Keeping in view the major drawbacks in the implementation of the pension scheme, Government of Andhra Pradesh brought all these pension schemes which were hither to handled by different departments under a single umbrella of Rural Development Department from 01.04.2006. The Department of Rural Development is the nodal agency at State Level for drawing and disbursing the above Pensions. The Department was handling only the Old Age Pensions earlier which formed more than 80% of the total pensions. The Rural Development Department has a wide network of field level functionaries. • The dominant theme of the initiative has been transparency, accountability and timely cash disbursements to the pensioners. The key benefits resulting from such initiative are timely and advance release of funds to the districts, disbursement of pension on specified dates, proper identification and filling up of death vacancies, monitoring of disbursement through web based portal while generating acquittances electronically etc. There has been tremendous reduction in cycle of release, disbursal and sending of utilization certificate with regard to funds management. At present, a total of 47.90 lakh pensions are being disbursed out of which 31.35 lakh are Old Age Pensions, 1.18 lakh are Weavers Pensions, 10.29 lakh are Widow Pensions and 5.08 lakh are Disabled pensions. The rate of pension is Rs.200/- per month.

Who proposed the solution, who implemented it and who were the stakeholders?
To facilitate timely disbursement of pensions to the right beneficiares, Principal Secretary to Government, Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department proposed for a web based design to integrate all the pensions into a single database for stand alone applications in the 1st phase and web based software in the 2nd phase. It was also proposed for development of web based application for providing online information to all citizens alongwith web based reporting system and analysis. M/s. Binary Software Solutions, Tirupathi was involved in designing the appropriate software and Mr Bhanu was the project leader. While implementing this software (Social Security Pensions Software), Mr K Raju, IAS, Principal Secretary, Rural Development, Panchayat Raj and Rural Development Department gave the inspirational support. Mr T Vijay Kumar, IAS Chief Executive Officer, Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP), Ms A Santhi Kumari, IAS, Commissioner, Rural Development, Ms R Anita, Director (Self Help Groups) and Dr M Padma, Joint Commissioner(IT, M&E), o/o. The Commissioner, Rural Development and Mr Srinivas Ganti, Dy. Chief Executive Officers (SSP) at the State Level, and Project Directors at District level, were involved. The pensioners under Old Age, Weavers, Widow and Disabled categories in the State are the main stakeholders in the entire process of implementation of the Social Security Pension Scheme

Describe how and when the initiative was implemented by answering these questions
a. What were the strategies used to implement the initiative? In no more than 500 words, provide a summary of the main objectives and strategies of the initiative, how they were established and by whom.
To achieve the objective of supporting minimum needs of the poor destitute having little or no regular means of subsistence from their own source of income or through financial support from their family members, the Rural Development Department has developed a software for existing pensions, to ensure that pensions are distributed by 1st & 5th of every month to all the beneficiaries. The package also generates acquittances, utilization certificates, reports for reconciliation and speedy disbursal of pensions to the beneficiaries every month. To achieve 100% efficiency in delivery of pensions, the strategy followed is given below: A process audit was conducted wherein the entire process of fund release from state level down to the village level till the amount reaches the beneficiary was studied before the automation process was put in place to obtain clear understanding of the existing system. Comprehensive authenticated data base of all pensioners under all categories in all habitations with a record of all pensions received till date was taken up. An exclusive web site for Social Security Pensions was launched by creating a dynamic website linked to the database providing latest updates to enable the implementing agency to upload pensioner’s data and to generate web based reports for regular monitoring. It is also ensured putting in place a process enabling timely release of funds from the state-level down to the Panchayat Secretary/Village Organization level to achieve timely and automated system of release of funds and to ensure that the beneficiary receives the pension by 1st of every month regularly. It is streamlined to ensure timely receipt of acquittances and Utilization Certificates from the field level and to put processes in place to enable District Rural Development Agencies to receive acquittances and Utilization Certificates by 8th of every month and to ensure unspent amounts are not locked up at field level. All the above strategies are established by clearly demarcating the roles and responsibilities of each and every functionary involved in the entire process right from the State level to Village level.

b. What were the key development and implementation steps and the chronology? No more than 500 words
There are mainly three steps implementation of the programme, viz., identification of eligible pensioner, sanction of pension and disbursement of pension in time. Regarding eligibility criteria of the pensioner apart from specific eligibilities under different categories of pension, he / she should be from a Below Poverty Line family and should not be covered under any other pension scheme. In Rural area the MPDO is the sanctioning authority for all pensions, in favour of eligible persons recommended by the Gram Sabha, whereas in Urban area the Municipal Commissioner is the sanctioning authority in respect of all pensions, in favour of eligible persons recommended by the Municipal Ward Sabha. The District Collector shall allocate Mandal-wise / Municipality -wise pensions based on eligible pensioners identified in Gram Sabhas / Ward Sabhas. The MPDO / Municipal Commissioner shall make Panchayat-wise / Ward-wise allocation based on the eligible pensioners identified in the Gram Sabhas / Ward Sabhas. Regarding Distribution of Pensions, all types of pensions shall be distributed to the pensioners on 1st of every month in every habitation / ward. The District Collectors shall notify the date and place for distribution of pensions habitation / ward wise in the local newspapers in the last week of March every year and also communicate the list of places to the people’s representatives to enable them to be present at as many places as possible on the day of distribution. The pensions shall be distributed in public at Gram Panchayat building or at Government school building or any other Government institution in every habitation / ward in the presence of People’s Representatives. Undisbursed pensions if any, shall be distributed again on 5th in the same venue and undisbursed amount and acquittances shall be returned to Mandal on 5th evening itself. As and when new pensions are sanctioned by the Mandal Parishad Development Officers / Municipal Commissioners to fill the death vacancies or vacancies arising due to permanent migration (Migration of the pensioner for more than six months would be treated as permanent migration and the names of such pensioners would be deleted from the live list and it will be treated as vacancy) or in case of additional quota allotted to the Mandal / ward, the sanction proceedings of the MPDO / Municipal Commissioner shall be communicated to the DRDA. The DRDAs would update the data base with the particulars of newly sanctioned pensions. In all such cases supplemental financial approval for each Mandal / ward would be generated by the computer and communicated to the Mandals / wards after obtaining approval of the District Collector.

c. What were the main obstacles encountered? How were they overcome? No more than 500 words
As the social security pension scheme had been in existence for over a decade, moving to an automated system was not free from obstacles. First challenge was getting the names of pensioners as it was available only at the field level. Sustained efforts and constant persuasion from the state level facilated in obtaining the names and creation of data base. The second obstacle was understanding of the field level functionaries and their natural reluctance to adopt a software that would result in bringing in transparency. Training of functionaries at various levels and motivating them of the utility of the software to them on how it would aid in reducing their drudgery did the trick. Inadequate and erroneous data entry resulted in inconsistent data in the transaction tables and thereby inconsistency in the master tables. Constant corrections and hand-holding by technical persons helped to overcome this obstacle.

d. What resources were used for the initiative and what were its key benefits? In no more than 500 words, specify what were the financial, technical and human resources’ costs associated with this initiative. Describe how resources were mobilized
Rural Development Department with its network all available human resources are implementing the programme for payment of pensions to a tune of 47.90 lakhs under various categories every month with an annual cost of Rs.11.50 crores. The cost of the pension is borne by the Government through its annual budgetary allocations. Cost of human resources is borne by the department by way of salary etc. Development of Social Security Pensions Software with all the requirements is allotted to M/s. Binary Software Solutions, an outsourcing agency for a cost of Rs.50.00 lakhs approximately

Is the initiative sustainable and transferable?
The social security pension scheme is an important strategy of the Government in alleviation of poverty. It helps the households in managing risk and fighting the shackles of poverty. The ICT solution adopted to manage the social security pensions scheme in an effective and transparent manner is definitely a sustainable initiative. Software based transactions has led to transparency and accountability which has aided to some extent in curbing corruption. It has ensured that the benefits reach the right people. The vulnerable community stands benefited as cash reaches their hand without the middlemen siphoning it of. The solution can be used for a variety of social security applications with slight modifications.

What are the impact of your initiative and the lessons learned?
The ICT solutions is a panacea for many of the ills effecting the social security schemes. Social security practioners need to understand the potential of the ICT solutions in managing the schemes effectively.


Institution Name:		Commissionerate, Rural development, Govt of Andhra Pradesh
Institution Type:		Government Agency
Contact Person:		R Anita
Title:		Director, SHGs
Telephone/ Fax:		919849906059
Institution's / Project's Website:		91-040-23243518
E-mail:		director_shgs@yahoo.com
Address:		H. No. 5-10-192, 2nd & 5th Floors, Hermitage Complex, HUDA Bhavan, Hill Fort Road, Saifabad,
Postal Code:		500004
City:		Hyderabad
State/Province:		Andhra Pradesh
Country:		India

The Problem

Solution and Key Benefits

Actors and Stakeholders

(a) Strategies

(b) Implementation

(c) Overcoming Obstacles

(d) Use of Resources

Sustainability and Transferability

Lessons Learned

Contact Information