Government Schemes You Should Know: Pension, Insurance and Welfare

Government Schemes You Should Know: Pension, Insurance and Welfare

16 June 2026, 12:40 PM

Seven schemes worth knowing in one place

The government runs many schemes for safety, savings and small business. A few come up again and again in exams, and they are useful in real life too. Here is a quick list of the big ones, with the benefit, who can join, and the current numbers as of 2026. This is general information, check the official source before you act. Treat all amounts and rates as date-sensitive, so check the latest before you rely on them.

Insurance and pension

  • PMJJBY (life cover): Pays Rs 2 lakh to your family if you pass away. Premium is about Rs 436 a year. For people aged 18 to 50 with a bank account. (Premium is date-sensitive.)
  • PMSBY (accident cover): Pays Rs 2 lakh for accidental death or full disability, and Rs 1 lakh for partial disability. Premium is just Rs 20 a year. For people aged 18 to 70 with a bank account.
  • Atal Pension Yojana (APY): Gives a fixed monthly pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 after age 60. You can join between 18 and 40. People who pay income tax cannot join (rule from 1 October 2022). The scheme has been extended up to FY 2030-31.

Health, girl child and savings

  • Ayushman Bharat (PM-JAY): Free hospital treatment up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year at empanelled hospitals. From September 2024, every senior citizen aged 70 and above is covered, no matter their income, with an extra Rs 5 lakh cover for that age group.
  • Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana (SSY): A savings account for a girl child below 10 years. The interest rate is 8.2 percent for the April to June 2026 quarter (the rate is set each quarter, so it is date-sensitive). The money grows tax-free.

Farmers and small business

  • PM-Kisan: Gives Rs 6,000 a year to landholding farmer families, paid in three equal parts of Rs 2,000. A farmer family means husband, wife and minor children who own cultivable land. Income tax payers, government officers (except Class IV staff) and big post-holders are not eligible.
  • Mudra loan (PMMY): Collateral-free loans for small business. Shishu up to Rs 50,000, Kishore up to Rs 5 lakh, Tarun up to Rs 10 lakh. A new Tarun Plus category goes up to Rs 20 lakh for those who repaid an earlier Tarun loan (raised from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh in 2024).

One quick way to remember them: insurance schemes protect you, pension and savings schemes build your future, and Mudra and PM-Kisan support work and farming. The exact rules and amounts can change, so always check the official scheme page before you apply.

Got these clear? Take the next General Knowledge quiz and lock them into memory before your exam.