The government has recently clarified that now divorced daughters of government servants will also be entitled to get family pension after the death of their parents. This rule will also apply to those circumstances when the divorce has taken place during the lifetime of the parents or the divorce proceedings have been filed in a competent court during their lifetime.
This decision is important for lakhs of such families where daughters were living in a state of insecurity after the marriage broke down due to some reason.
Why was the new rule necessary?
Till now there was often doubt about family pension — will a divorced daughter get pension? If yes, then on what conditions? When this question was raised in Parliament, the government made it clear that clear provisions regarding this have already been included in the Central Civil Services (Pension) Rules, 2021 and the subsequent Office Memorandum dated 26 October 2022.
Under what circumstances will pension be available?
According to the rules issued by the government:
If a government employee or pensioner dies and there is no surviving spouse, son or eligible daughter, or they do not fulfill the eligibility conditions (such as crossing the age of 25 years or having their own source of income), and no disabled child is also eligible for pension, then in such a situation, an unmarried, widowed or divorced daughter can get family pension for life even after the age of 25 years.
However, there are some conditions attached:
The daughter must have been dependent on her parents.
If the daughter is a widow, then the husband must have died during the lifetime of the parents.
If the daughter is divorced, then the divorce must have taken place during the lifetime of the parents or at least the divorce proceedings in the court must have been filed during their lifetime.
Pension will be available only until she gets married again or starts earning a living from her independent income.
Applicable to railway and defense employees too
This rule will apply not only to central civil service employees but also to railway and defense services employees and pensioners equally. That is, this scope is even bigger and lakhs of families will benefit from it.
Why is this decision important for divorced daughters?
The position of divorced women in Indian society is often insecure, especially when they do not have financial resources. In such a situation, getting this right to the daughters of government employee families will ensure their economic security.
This rule is also a big step towards social security and self-reliance of women.