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Mainstream, VOL L, No 24, June 2, 2012

Pensions for All Elderly People: An Issue that Can Unite the Nation

Friday 8 June 2012, by Bharat Dogra

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When was the last time in our memory political parties buried their differences and worked together on an issue of great importance for the people of India? Controversies have been getting murkier, and we seem to have forgotten how political parties can also work with creative co-operation to give the people badly needed relief and hope for the future.

Now the demand of pensions for all elderly people offers a wonderful opportunity, a long-awaited opportunity, when various political parties, Parliament, the media and all other important sections of our democratic polity can work together with a great national purpose to fulfil a very widely recognised and deeply felt need of adequate pensions for all the 100 million elderly people of India. Apart from lighting up the lives of millions of elderly people, particularly those suffering from the denial of basic needs, this issue provides a great opportunity for redeeming and strengthening the people’s faith in the democracy and democratic process for bringing genuine benefits, short-term as well as longer-term, to the people. The nation should be grateful to the Pension Parishad for placing this issue firmly on the national agenda with its recent mobilisation of various sections for a well-argued demand for non-contributary adequate pensions for all elderly people.

What needs to be drawn attention to further is the widespread support the Pension Parished has already received for its demand cutting across party lines. Not only did representatives of various political parties (including the leading constituents of the UPA, NDA and Left parties) came to speak at the dharna and offered their support, the subsequent meetings of the Pension Parishad activists with senior authorities in the government were full of hopeful signs. The President of India, Mrs Pratibha Patil, offered strong moral support plus a cash donation of Rs 15,000. The Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, called a joint meeting of senior officials from the Finance Ministry, Rural Development Ministry and other relevant Ministries for an initial discussion on the proposals put forward by the activists. The Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, Pulok Chatterjee, was broadly suppor-tive of the proposals. The Rural Development Minister, Jairam Ramesh, emphasised the need to make essential reforms in pensions so that more benefits can reach the people in a better way. While the issue of mobilising resources was raised by government spokespersons, even those known to be very stingy on this issue said that the importance, legtimacy and justice of the demand cannot be denied.

Along with this acknowledgment of the need for non-contributory adequate pensions for all elderly people in the country, there is also an acceptance in the government at the highest level that what already exists in the name of pensions for the unorganised sector (93 per cent of people) is grossly inadequate. So it is quite likely that the government will respond on the whole positively to the basic demand of the Pension Parishad. However, there is an apprehension that, as has happened several times in the past, it may make only a half-hearted commitment which will fall short of the various demands of the Pension Parishad and the real needs of the people.

It is here that the democratic role of the Opposition will be of crucial importance. The Opposition, and the Left parties in particular, with the strong public support likely to be available on this issue, should bring adequate pressure on the government to strengthen, widen and enhance its commitments to levels which approximate the well-justified demands of the Parishad. This role should not be to obstruct but to improve as much as possible, while ultimately accepting the best that can be extracted in the given conditions. The present state of pensions for the unorganised sector is so appalling that even the limited improvements that the government spokespersons have been offering will bring huge relief.

So the way forward should be to bring adequate pressure on the government to get as much as possible but to be simultaneously prepared for sufficient flexibility so as not to miss the opportunity of whatever benefits and improvements the government is willing to offer initially. The room for further improvements and struggles will always remain, but at least let some significant benefits reach the elderly as early as possible.

The author is currently a Fellow at the Institute of Social Sciences, New Delhi.

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