The government has further relaxed the norms for the Atal Pension Yojana to give an option to the spouse to continue to contribute for the balance period on premature death of the subscriber.
The spouse of the subscriber will receive the same pension amount as that of the subscriber until the death of the spouse. After the death of both the subscriber and the spouse, the nominee of the subscriber will receive the pension wealth, as accumulated till the age of 60 years of the subscriber.
Under current provisions of the scheme, the spouse is handed over the lumpsum amount accumulated in case of death of the subscriber before he or she reaches 60 years of age.
“The feedback received from various quarters has indicated that the present provision under Atal Pension Yojana of handing-over lumpsum amount to spouse on premature death of the subscriber is not preferred by many subscribers,” said a Finance Ministry release on Tuesday.