Dr. Jitendra Singh to chair the 34th meeting of SCOVA on 11th March, 2025

Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare is committed towards the welfare of Central Government pensioners. It has been mandated with the task of formulation of pension policies and redressal of pensioners’ grievances in active coordination with other Ministries/Departments of Government of India. Further, the Department also actively engages with the Pensioners’ Welfare Associations, representing lakhs of Central Government pensioners across the country.

To institutionalise the coordination among DoPPW, Ministries/Departments and Pensioners’ Welfare Associations, the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies (SCOVA) was constituted by Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare in 1986 under the chairmanship of Minister of State for Personnel Public Grievances and Pensions with Secretary, Department of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare as Secretary.

The SCOVA consists of 15 non-official members, representing Pensioners’ Welfare Associations and Official Members represented by Ministries/ Departments of Government of India. It provides a feedback on program implementation of the Department, discusses critically important policy issues relating to Pensioners and mobilizes voluntary efforts to supplement Government action.

Dr. Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions will chair the 34^th meeting of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies at New Delhi on 11^th March, 2025. The SCOVA works as a consultative forum of Voluntary Agencies i.e. Pensioners’ Welfare Associations. It provides Pensioners’ Welfare Associations, an institutional forum for raising issues concerning pensioners’ welfare directly before the concerned Ministries/ Departments through constructive deliberations.

In the 34^th SCOVA meeting, Pensioners’ Welfare Associations from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Gujarat would be participating. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare,  Controller General of Defence Accounts, Department of Expenditure, Central Pension Accounting Office, Ministry of Railways, Controller General of Communication Accounts, Department of Posts, Department of Financial Services, Department of Personnel and Training, Department of Telecommunications and Indian Bank will also be participating in the meeting to discuss the issues concerning pensioners.