Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Samman Pension Yojana (Rajasthan Old Age Pension Scheme)

What is the Rajasthan Old Age Pension Scheme?

Rajasthan Old Age Pension Scheme, whose official name is Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Samman Pension Yojana, is the state's monthly cash pension for low-income senior citizens. The Social Justice and Empowerment Department runs it and pays it through the Rajasthan Social Security Pension portal at ssp.rajasthan.gov.in, commonly called RajSSP. Readers searching in Hindi often type it as Vridhavastha Pension or Budhapa Pension; all of these refer to the same scheme.

Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Samman Pension Yojana is one of four pension streams on the RajSSP portal. The other three are the Ekalnari Samman Pension for single women, the Vishesh Yogyajan Samman Pension for persons with disabilities, and the Laghu Evam Seemant Krishak Vridhjan Pension for small and marginal farmers. A person may draw only one of these four at a time.

Rajasthan sets an unusually low entry age. Women qualify at 55 and men at 58, against the age of 60 used by most states and by the central Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme. The state pension is paid on top of, and is administered separately from, the central old age pension, and the state share is what determines the amount actually credited.

The pension amount is not fixed permanently. It has been raised in steps from Rs 750 to Rs 1,000, then Rs 1,150, then Rs 1,250, and to Rs 1,300 a month with effect from 1 January 2026, first disbursed in February 2026. The Rajasthan Budget 2026-27 announced a further rise to Rs 1,450 a month covering more than 91 lakh pensioners across all four streams. These increases flow from the Rajasthan Minimum Income Guarantee Act, 2023, which gives the social security pension statutory backing and provides for periodic escalation instead of ad-hoc revisions.

Older material still in circulation, including some third-party scheme directories, quotes age slabs of Rs 750 a month for ages 55 to 74 and Rs 1,000 a month for age 75 and above. Those slabs are historic. The uniform statutory floor now applies to all sanctioned pensioners regardless of age, so check ssp.rajasthan.gov.in for the rate in force before relying on any figure.

Main features

• Monthly pension paid by Direct Benefit Transfer into the pensioner's own Aadhaar-seeded bank account.
• Entry age of 55 for women and 58 for men: among the lowest in India.
• Annual family income must be below Rs 48,000.
• Statutory backing under the Rajasthan Minimum Income Guarantee Act, 2023.
• Application is free apart from the small notified e-Mitra service charge.
• Annual verification is required to keep the pension running.

Who is eligible for the Rajasthan old age pension?

You can claim the pension if:

• You are a woman aged 55 years or above, or a man aged 58 years or above.
• You are a permanent resident of Rajasthan.
• Your annual family income from all sources is below Rs 48,000.
• You are listed by name in a Rajasthan Jan Aadhaar family record.
• You hold a bank account in your own name that is seeded with your Aadhaar number.

You are not eligible if:

• You are a serving government employee of the central or state government, a PSU or an autonomous body, or a government service pensioner.
• You are already drawing another state social security pension. The single woman, disability or farmer old age pension. Only one may be drawn at a time.
• Your annual family income is Rs 48,000 or more.
• You are an income tax payer.
• You are not a permanent resident of Rajasthan.
• Your name does not appear in a Rajasthan Jan Aadhaar record, in which case you must get the Jan Aadhaar corrected before applying rather than applying and being rejected.

Formal Below Poverty Line certification is not required. In practice the Rs 48,000 income ceiling restricts the pension to households with very little regular income, and a BPL or Antyodaya record makes the income test simpler to clear at verification.

How much is paid and when?

The pension is credited monthly by Direct Benefit Transfer. The rate in force at the time of writing is Rs 1,300 a month, effective 1 January 2026 and first disbursed in February 2026, having risen from Rs 1,250. The Rajasthan Budget 2026-27 announced Rs 1,450 a month.

Credits are not always month by month. RajSSP releases several months together in some cycles, so a pensioner who sees nothing one month should check the payment history on the portal before assuming the pension has stopped. The first credit after sanction includes arrears calculated from the sanction date, which is why a first payment is often larger than the monthly rate.

Payment reaches only an account in the pensioner's own name. A joint account, or an account belonging to a son, daughter or other relative, is not accepted, and a sanctioned pension will sit undelivered until the account is corrected on the pension record.

What documents are required?

How to apply for the Rajasthan old age pension

1. Collect the documents first — Jan Aadhaar, Aadhaar, age proof, income certificate, domicile proof and a bank passbook in your own name. Confirm at an e-Mitra kiosk that your name already appears in the Jan Aadhaar record.
2. Go to an e-Mitra kiosk, or log in to sso.rajasthan.gov.in and open the RajSSP application. Most applicants use e-Mitra because the operator can complete the biometric authentication in the same sitting.
3. Select Mukhyamantri Vridhjan Samman Pension Yojana, enter your Jan Aadhaar number, and pick your own name from the list of family members shown.
4. Fill in your age, income, address and bank account details, then upload the supporting documents.
5. Submit the form and collect the printed acknowledgement carrying your application number. Keep it safe; every status check needs it.
6. Wait for verification. The application goes to the Sub-Divisional Officer or Tehsildar for sanction. Attend in person if you are called.
7. Once sanctioned you are issued a PPO number, and the first credit, including arrears from the sanction date, arrives in your bank account.

How to apply offline

1. Visit your nearest e-Mitra kiosk or the Tehsil / Panchayat Samiti office with the full document set.
2. Ask the operator or the social security clerk to fill the RajSSP old age pension form against your Jan Aadhaar number.
3. Give your biometric authentication at the kiosk.
4. Collect the acknowledgement slip with the application number. The notified e-Mitra charge is a small fixed fee, commonly around Rs 33; nothing more is payable to anyone.

How to check your pension status

1. Open ssp.rajasthan.gov.in.
2. Select Pensioner Status or Beneficiary Report.
3. Enter your application number, or your PPO number if the pension is already sanctioned, and submit.
4. The screen shows whether the application is pending, sanctioned or rejected, and for sanctioned pensions it lists the month-wise payment history.

The Jan Soochna Portal at jansoochna.rajasthan.gov.in shows the same records searched by Jan Aadhaar number, which is the route to use when the application number has been lost.

Why do old age pension applications get rejected?

• Income certificate showing Rs 48,000 or more, or an income figure in the Jan Aadhaar record that contradicts the certificate. Get the Jan Aadhaar income entry corrected first.
• Age not met or not provable, a man of 56 does not qualify, and an applicant whose Aadhaar shows an approximate year of birth may be asked for a second age document.
• Applicant not listed in a Jan Aadhaar family record.
• Bank account in a relative's name, or a joint account.
• Already drawing another state social security pension, which the system detects automatically.
• Government pensioner status discovered at verification.

Why does a sanctioned pension stop arriving?

• Annual verification not completed. This is the single commonest cause. Verification is biometric at an e-Mitra kiosk; the pension is suspended until it is done, then arrears are released.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded, or seeded to a different account.
• Account dormant, closed or KYC-lapsed, so the DBT credit bounces.
• Name mismatch between Aadhaar, the Jan Aadhaar record and the bank record.
• Duplicate pension detected across two RajSSP streams.

Fix the bank-side problems at your branch and the verification at an e-Mitra kiosk. Take eligibility disputes to the Tehsil or SDO office that sanctioned the pension.

Where to complain if something goes wrong

• RajSSP helpline: 0141-5111007, 0141-5111010 or 0141-2740637, and email ssp-rj@nic.in, for sanction and payment problems.
• Rajasthan Sampark on 181 or sampark.rajasthan.gov.in, for a formal written grievance with a trackable number.
• Jan Soochna Portal on 1800-180-6127, to see what the state's records hold against your Jan Aadhaar number.
• Sub-Divisional Officer or Tehsildar of your area, the sanctioning authority for a rejected or long-pending application.

Applying is free apart from the small notified e-Mitra service charge. No agent can get a pension sanctioned for a fee, and no government official will ask you for an OTP or a bank password.