Elderly people to stage dharna
About 5000 elderly people will stage a dharna at Jantar Mantar here from May 7 to May 11 demanding universal old-age pension for all those above 55 years.
They are mobilised by social rights activists under the banner of Pension Parishad.
Co-conveners of the parishad Aruna Roy and Baba Adhav, who launched the movement in Pune on February 1, said the changed socio-economic scenario and the rise in longevity had added to the disadvantage of the elderly people in the unorganised sector.
While on the one hand their lifespan had increased, elderly people no longer enjoyed the protection of their wards and other relatives and were now required to fend for themselves. Their physical condition did not even allow them to collect water from wells or hand pumps, let alone earn a proper living.
Social activists Subhash Lomte, Annie Raja, Ravi Srivastava and Prabhat Patnaik said it was time the state provided some relief in the form of monthly pension of Rs. 2000 to such people.
The demand is for a non-contributory pension to those above the age of 55 while the eligibility for women should be 50 years without any distinction on the lines of BPL and APL. For other vulnerable groups, the age of eligibility should be pegged at 45 years.
According to the parishad, those above 60 years accounted for 8.2 per cent of the population —10 crore people — and in their estimation, the state would have to bear about Rs. 3.6 lakh crore a year after excluding 10 per cent of the elderly individuals. They hoped the Centre would bear 75 per cent of the outgo — that is Rs. 2.7 lakh crore.
They proposed a cess on the industrial sector to raise the needed funds and provide relief to the government.
The Centre pays Rs. 200 as pension to those above 60 years and Rs. 500 to those above 80 years, covering only 1.87 crore BPL families.
Keywords: senior citizens, dharna, protest rally, Jantar Manta
V.RAGHAVENDRA RAO,
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