(1) This Scheme may be called the Pradhan Mantri Laghu Vyapari Maan-dhan, Yojana, 2019.

(2) It shall come into force on the 22^nd day of July, 2019.

(3) Subject to the provisions of this Scheme, the Laghu Vyaparis have option to become the members of the Scheme, on and from the 22^nd day of July, 2019.

(4) The provisions of this Scheme shall apply to the Laghu Vyaparis, who are self-employed and working as shop owners, retail traders, rice mill owners, oil mill owners, workshop owners, commission agents, brokers of real estate, owners of small hotels, restaurants and other Laghu Vyaparis. The operations of such small traders are generally characterized by family owned establishments, small scale of operations, labour intensive, inadequate financial aid, seasonal in nature and extensive unpaid family labour.

In this Scheme, unless the context otherwise requires,

(a) Act means the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008 (33 of 2008);

(b) Common Service Centre-Special Purpose vehicle means Common Service Centre-Special Purpose vehicle (herein after referred to as CSC-SPV) a strategic cornerstone of the National e-Governance Plan (hereinafter referred to as NeGP ), approved by the Government in May 2006, as part of its commitment in the National Common Minimum Programme to introduce e-governance on a massive scale. It is under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeiTY) (herein after referred to as MeiTY ). CSC-SPV has been chosen as enrolment agency under the scheme. CSC-SPV through its over 3.50 lakh Common Service Centres across the country will enroll the beneficiary under the scheme;

(c) contribution means the amount specified in the contribution chart appended with this Scheme, to be payable monthly by an eligible subscriber in the pension fund referred to in sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 3;

(d) eligible subscriber means Laghu Vyapari who is eligible to join this Scheme;

(e) family means,

(i) his wife, in the case of male eligible subscriber;

(ii) her husband, in the case of a female eligible subscriber;

(f) Laghu Vyapari means who are self-employed and working as shop owners, retail traders, rice mill owners, oil mill owners, workshop owners, commission agents, brokers of real estate, owners of small hotels, restaurants and other Laghu Vyaparis;

(g) Life Insurance Corporation of India means the Life Insurance Corporation of India constituted under the Life Insurance of India Act, an organisation for offering life insurance coverage. Life Insurance Corporation of India has been chosen as pension fund manager responsible for managing the pension fund, Central Record keeping Agency and responsible for Pension pay out;

(h) matching contribution means the equal amount as contributed by the eligible subscriber, payable by the Central Government to the eligible subscriber's account;

(i) National Board has the same meaning as assigned to it in clause (d) of section 2 of the Act.

(j) pension means the amount payable under this Scheme to the eligible subscriber

(k) pension fund manager means agency responsible for managing the pension fund, Central Record keeping Agency and responsible for Pension pay out;

(1) The Central Government shall for the purposes of this Scheme, establish a Pension Fund to be administered by Life Insurance Corporation of India in consultation, wherever required, with the Government.

(2) The eligible subscriber, who joins the Scheme, shall subscribe to the Pension Fund as determined by the Central Government from time to time at the time of such joining in accordance with the age of the eligible subscriber, as specified in the contribution chart appended as Annexure to this Scheme.

(3) The Central Government shall also contribute to the Pension Fund the equal amount as contributed by an eligible subscriber.

(4) Each contribution payable under sub-paragraph (1) or sub-paragraph (2) shall be rounded off so as to the amount of fifty paise or more shall be counted as the next higher rupee and a fraction of a rupee less than fifty paise shall be ignored.

(5) The actuarial valuation of the scheme shall be undertaken on annual basis and in case of any shortfall or insufficiency in the fund on the basis of actuarial valuation, the pension fund manager may approach the Central Government to fund such gap.

(1) This Scheme shall be open only to the Laghu Vyapari for joining, whose annual turnover does not exceed Rs. 1.5 crore, based on self-declaration, who has a savings bank account in his name and Aadhar number.

(2) The Laghu Vyapari referred to in sub-paragraph (1) shall be not less than eighteen years of age and not exceeding forty years of age.

(3) The Laghu Vyapari referred to in sub-paragraph (1) shall not be eligible to join the Scheme, if he is covered under National Pension Scheme contributed by the Central Government or Employees' State Insurance Corporation Scheme under the Employees' State Insurance Act, 1948 (34 of 1948) or Employees' Provident Fund Scheme under the Employees' Provident Fund and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952 (19 of 1952) or he is an income-tax assessee.

Where an eligible subscriber makes a default in the payment of any contribution to be payable by him under this Scheme to the Pension Fund referred to in sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 3, then, he shall be allowed to regularise his contribution by paying his entire outstanding dues, along with interest of the rate as determined by the Government of India in the Ministry of Labour and Employment from time to time.

If any doubt arises as to whether any Laghu Vyapari is entitled to become an eligible subscriber to join this Scheme or any difficulty arises in implementation of this Scheme, then,

(i) in case of such doubt, the issue shall be referred to the Joint Secretary and Director General Labour Welfare, Government of India in the Ministry of Labour and Employment, New Delhi, whose clarification thereon shall be conclusive; and

(ii) in case of such difficulty in implementation, the issue shall be referred to the Central Government, whose clarification thereon shall be conclusive.

The exit provisions and benefits thereunder, of this Scheme are as under, namely:

(i) in case an eligible subscriber exits this Scheme within a period of less than ten years from the date of joining the Scheme by him, then the share of contribution by him only will be returned to him with savings bank rate of interest payable thereon;

(ii) if an eligible subscriber exits after completion of a period of ten years or more from the date of joining the Scheme by him but before his age of sixty years, then his share of contribution only shall be returned to him along with accumulated interest thereon as actually earned by the Pension Fund

referred to in sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 3 or the interest at the savings bank interest rate thereon, whichever is higher;

(iii) if an eligible subscriber has given regular contributions and died due to any cause, his spouse shall be entitled to continue with the Scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution as applicable or exit by receiving the share of contribution paid by such subscriber along with accumulated interest, as actually earned thereon by the Pension Fund, referred to in sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 3 or at the savings bank interest rate thereon, whichever is higher;

(iv) after death of subscriber and his or her spouse, the corpus shall be credited back to the fund;

(v) in case of exit on account of clauses (i), (ii) and (iii) above, the accumulated share of Government's contribution shall be credited back to the Pension Fund;

(vi) any other exit provision, including nomination, as may be decided by the Central Government by issuing instructions from time to time.

If an eligible subscriber has given regular contributions and become permanently disabled due to any cause before attaining his age of sixty years, and is unable to continue to contribute under this Scheme, his spouse shall be entitled to continue with the Scheme subsequently by payment of regular contribution as applicable or exit the Scheme by receiving the share of contribution deposited by such subscriber, with interest as actually earned thereon by the Pension Fund, referred to in sub-paragraph (1) of paragraph 3 or the interest at the savings bank interest rate thereon, whichever is higher.

During the receipt of pension, if an eligible subscriber dies, his spouse shall be only entitled to receive fifty per cent. of the pension received by such eligible subscriber, as family pension and such family pension shall be applicable only to the spouse.

(1) Each eligible subscriber under this Scheme shall receive assured minimum monthly pension of three thousand rupees after attaining the age of sixty years through Life Insurance Corporation of India.

(2) Once the eligible subscriber joins this Scheme at the entry age between eighteen to forty years, such subscriber has to contribute till attaining the age of sixty years and on attaining his age of sixty years, such subscriber shall be entitled to get the assured minimum monthly pension of three thousand rupees with benefit of family pension specified in paragraph 9, as the case may be.

11. Enrolment under the scheme: Under the scheme, CSC-SPV has been chosen as enrolment agency. CSC-SPV through its over 3.50 lakh common service centres across the country will enrol the beneficiary under the scheme. For each successful enrolment, Government will pay to CSC-SPV Rupees Thirty/- (or as agreed from time to time) as enrolment charge. Common Service Centre (CSC) shall not charge any money from the beneficiaries.

[see paragraph 3(2)]

1 Vide Notification No. S.O. 2615(E), dated 22-7-2019, published in the Gazette of India, Extra., Part II, Section 3(ii), No. 2385, dated 22-7-2019.