Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Pension Yojana

What is Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Pension Yojana?

Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Pension Yojana, usually shortened to MVPY, is Bihar's universal old-age pension, run by the Social Welfare Department through the Social Security Pension Management Information System, or SSPMIS. The state launched it on 1 April 2019.

The design choice that defines this scheme is universality. According to the Social Welfare Department, every resident of Bihar aged 60 and above is eligible, there is no income limit, no BPL requirement, no caste condition and no land ceiling. That distinguishes MVPY sharply from the centrally sponsored Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), which is restricted to below-poverty-line households and which SSPMIS also administers alongside MVPY.

On the pension amount, two figures are in circulation and both are real. The scheme began at Rs 400 a month for beneficiaries aged 60 to 79 and Rs 500 a month for those aged 80 and above. On 24 June 2025 the Bihar Cabinet approved an increase to Rs 1,100 a month, and that is the revised rate that has since been credited to beneficiary accounts. If you are quoting a figure for your own planning, check the credited amount on your bank statement or the e-Labharthi portal rather than relying on an older webpage.

Main features

• Universal cover for Bihar residents aged 60 and above.
• No income, caste, religion or landholding test.
• Monthly credit by Direct Benefit Transfer into the beneficiary's own Aadhaar-seeded bank account.
• Application is free and can be made online or through an RTPS counter.
• Administered on SSPMIS alongside IGNOAPS, IGNWPS, IGNDPS, the Laxmi Bai Social Security Pension and the Bihar State Disability Pension.

Who is eligible for Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Pension Yojana?

You can apply if:

• You are 60 years of age or above, with the date of birth as recorded on your Aadhaar.
• You are a permanent resident of Bihar.
• You hold an Aadhaar card and a voter ID (EPIC).
• You have a bank account in your own name that is Aadhaar-seeded and active.
• You are not drawing a pension under any other government scheme.

Income does not matter. Caste does not matter. Whether you own land does not matter. A retired shopkeeper, a landless labourer and a small farmer with two acres are all equally eligible if they are 60 and are not drawing another pension.

You are not eligible and cannot apply if:

• You are below 60 years of age.
• You already draw a pension under another central or state government scheme; including IGNOAPS, the widow pension, the disability pension or the Laxmi Bai Social Security Pension. One person cannot draw two social security pensions.
• You are a retired government employee drawing a service pension, or a family pension from a government post.
• You are not a resident of Bihar.
• Your Aadhaar shows a date of birth below 60. Even if your actual age is higher, the system reads Aadhaar, and the fix is an Aadhaar correction, not an appeal to the block office.

A husband and wife who are both 60 or above can each draw the pension separately, since eligibility is individual, not per family.

What documents are required?

No income certificate is required. If anyone asks you for one for this scheme, they are applying the rules of a different pension.

How to apply for Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Pension Yojana online

1. Open sspmis.bihar.gov.in and select Register for MVPY from the home page.
2. Choose your district, block and voter ward, then enter your voter ID (EPIC) number and select your name from the list the portal returns.
3. Enter your Aadhaar number and name exactly as printed on Aadhaar, then complete Aadhaar authentication. The portal verifies your age from Aadhaar at this step, and an application will not proceed if the recorded age is under
5. Fill the application form; address, mobile number, and bank details including account number, IFSC and branch. The account must be in your own name.
6. Upload your photograph and the scanned Aadhaar, voter ID and bank passbook in the sizes the portal specifies.
7. Submit the application and note the acknowledgement or beneficiary ID shown on screen. Write it down; you need it for every status check.
8. Wait for block-level verification by the Block Development Officer or block welfare officer, followed by sanction by the Sub-Divisional Officer.
9. Once sanctioned, the pension is credited monthly through PFMS to your bank account.

How to apply offline through the RTPS counter

1. Visit the RTPS counter at your block office or gram panchayat office and ask for the Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Pension Yojana application form. The form is free.
2. Fill it in and attach self-attested copies of Aadhaar, voter ID and the first page of your bank passbook, plus a passport-size photograph.
3. Submit the form at the counter and collect the receipt. The counter staff enter the details into SSPMIS on your behalf.
4. Follow up with the block welfare officer after a few weeks using the receipt number if the status has not moved.

This route matters. Many applicants aged 70 and above have no smartphone, and the RTPS counter is the intended channel for them rather than a paid cyber cafe.

How do I check my pension status and payments?

1. Open sspmis.bihar.gov.in and select Search Beneficiary Status.
2. Search using your beneficiary ID, Aadhaar number, bank account number or sanction number — any one of these works.
3. The result shows your sanction status and the month-wise payment history with the amount credited.
4. For payment-level detail, use the e-Labharthi link from the same portal, which is the Bihar payment tracking system for social security pensions.
5. If the status shows sanctioned but no credit has arrived, check with your bank branch first, a dormant or non-seeded account is the usual cause.

Why do Bihar old-age pension applications get rejected or stop?

• Age below 60 on Aadhaar. Correct the Aadhaar record first; the block office cannot override it.
• Already drawing another government pension. The system de-duplicates across all SSPMIS schemes, so a widow pension holder applying for MVPY is caught.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded. The application may be sanctioned while the payment fails. NPCI seeding at your branch is a separate step from submitting Aadhaar as KYC.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, voter ID and the bank record.
• Account in a son's or spouse's name. The account must be the beneficiary's own.
• Dormant account. Banks freeze long-inactive accounts and the DBT credit bounces; a small deposit and a KYC update reactivate it.
• Verification pending at block level, not a rejection, but the commonest reason a file sits still for months. Follow up with the block welfare officer.
• Death of the beneficiary, on which the pension stops; the family must report it rather than allow credits to continue.

Where do I get help?

• Toll-free helpline: 1800-345-6262, Directorate of Social Security, Social Welfare Department.
• Email: sspmishelp@gmail.com
• Block Development Officer or block welfare officer for verification delays and document corrections.
• Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) for sanction-stage delays.
• District Social Welfare Office and the district grievance service linked from SSPMIS for unresolved complaints.

Applying is free at every stage. No agent can speed up a sanction, and no official from the Social Welfare Department will ask for money, an OTP or your bank password.