Odisha adds five lakh pensioners, ends quota under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana
The State pension scheme for older people and others in need now covers 41.8 lakh people, and a new portal will handle applications and payments.
Odisha has added more than five lakh people to the Madhu Babu Pension Yojana and scrapped the quota that capped it, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi said on 10 November. The scheme now covers 41.8 lakh people, OdishaBytes reported.
The scheme is the State’s monthly pension for older people, widows, people with disabilities and others in need. Under the old quota system, a new person could usually join only when a place fell vacant.
Mr. Majhi also launched a Unified Pension Management Portal, which the government says will make it easier to apply for a pension and to receive it.
The background
The State’s 2026–27 budget had promised pensions to more than six lakh eligible people who had been left out, Odisha TV reported at the time. It also said places would no longer be filled only after a beneficiary died.
The government says the change brings every eligible person into the scheme. The reports did not say how much more it will cost each year.