A Universal Pension Scheme has been launched for the first time to bring Bangladesh's senior citizens under a sustainable and well-structured social security framework and provide protection to the 85% of the society who are employed in the low-income sectors.
Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina virtually inaugurated the scheme from her official residence Ganabhaban on Thursday.
Anyone above the age of 18 can come under the pension scheme by paying contributions, except government employees. Pragati, Surokkha, Samata and Prabashi – these four programs of universal pensions were launched.
How, where to register
A website called “Upension” has been launched for universal pension scheme.
People interested to register for the scheme can do it by visiting the National Pension Authority's website: www.upension.gov.bd.
Interested persons have to fill up each part of the registration process with accurate information.
The application will be cancelled and the money deposited will not be refunded if the registration is done with inaccurate or false information.
Each new participant has to register first by clicking on the Pensioner Registration button on the "Upension" website.
From there, they will fill out his/her national identity number, date of birth, mobile number and e-mail address.
This window will take the person to the next window after filling up the Captcha portion.
Successful filling up of the Captcha will open a window, which will ask the person to insert the one-time password or OTP that has been sent to the mobile number mentioned in the previous window.
Nest, the person has to give detailed information about him/her in five separate tabs, namely: Personal Information, Scheme Information, Bank Information, Nominee Information and the Whole Form.
This page will show the applicant's NID number, photo, Bengali and English name, father's name, mother's name, current and permanent address according to the NID data given on the previous page.
Here the amount of the applicant's annual income should be mentioned and the name of his profession, division, district and upazila should be selected.
At the end of this step, there will be another page called “Scheme Information”. Here the person has to choose the amount of monthly donation and the time of payment.
Then the bank information has to be inserted.
The nominee information should be given on the next page.
In the last step of registration, the applicant will be shown personal information, scheme, bank information and nominee information.
Direct bank registration
Registration and subscription can be done by filling the online form or directly visiting any branch of Sonali Bank from Thursday. Subscriptions can also be made through Mobile Financial Services (MFS) institutions.
It is known that four separate accounts have been opened in Sonali Bank for four schemes. Contributions will be deposited in these accounts. The journey started with Sonali Bank but later other banks will join.
Anyone above 18 years of age can contribute to the pension scheme through this bank by filling up the prescribed form, regardless of whether one has an account with Sonali Bank or not.
