Kerala Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan has said that the government will examine if Life certificate submission for non-resident Keralites’ (NoRKs) pension should be changed from annual to once every two or three years and whether the certificates issued by people’s representatives are enough for the purpose.

He was responding to a submission in the Assembly on Wednesday (June 24, 2026) by Najeeb Kanthapuram, Perinthalmanna MLA, on failure to provide pension for months to non-resident Keralites who are members of the Kerala Non-resident Keralites’ Welfare Board.

The MLA said 7,90,886 non-resident Keralites (NoRKS) were paying subscriptions for becoming members of the board. However, pension was being paid only to 94,666. NoRKS also had to submit Life certificates annually. However, NoRKS working in labour camps or some desert region would not be in a position to visit the Indian embassies to submit their Life certificates, Mr. Kanthapuram said. He also sought an increase in the welfare pension.

The Chief Minister, in his reply, said the government took a serious view of the claim that several of the applications received till January 2026 for pension from the board were yet to be disposed of while no steps had been taken in the case of applications received after January 2026. The government would examine the situation and take steps to make the NoRKs’ pension distribution effective.

In the case of Life certificates for NoRKs pensioners’ abroad, the board had allowed use of certificates sent from the personal email of its directors who are based abroad. However, if the submission of Life certificates were to be made once every couple of years, pensions would have to be given even if the beneficiaries passe away during the interim period since information would not be available on their deaths.