Government has approved minimum monthly pension of Rs1,000 under Employees Pension Scheme 1995 (EPS-95) run by the retirement body Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO), Parliament was informed.

The decision of the government would immediately benefit 28 lakh pensioners including 5 lakh widows getting less than Rs1,000 as pension every month. In all, there are 44 lakh pensioners under the EPS-95 scheme.

As per the proposal, pensioners were to get the benefit with effect from April 1 this year. The government would have to provide an additional amount of around Rs1,217 crore to ensure a minimum pension of Rs1,000 for 2014-15.

A senior official said the new government did not want to provide this entitlement merely for one financial year and wanted this to be implemented for all times to come. That is why the proposal was reviewed.