Rajasthan brands the living dead, denies them pension

NEW DELHI: Until three days ago, Kalu Ram says he had no idea he was dead. Government records say he is. That is why the 36-year-old had not received his disability pension for the past six months.
There are nine others from Chak Hikaari village in Rajasthan's Rajsamand district - all living dead who have stopped receiving their social-justice pensions as state government records show them as dead.Very much alive, they are campaigning in the Capital to get their pensions restarted and for compensation.
"Their pensions were cancelled without a hearing. They are being punished for someone else's fault who wrongly recorded them as dead. They should be compensated and their pensions should be restored," said activist Nikhil Dey of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan.
The "dead" have now submitted letters to their local panchayats saying that they are alive. According to government records, pensions of over 6.8 lakh individuals have been stopped. Of them, 2.9 lakh are listed dead.
Following a 'Jawab Do' agitation to raise administrative accountably , Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangthan (MKSS) activists received this data from the state's department of social justice and empowerment earlier this week. But the exact number of discrepancies has not been verified yet.
Rajasthan's social justice and empowerment minister Arun Chaturvedi told TOI on phone, "The government's purpose is not to stop pensions of the living. Once we get information on the discrepancies, our departments will act on it."
According to MKSS, from a total of 68,45,252 pension accounts, transfer of money to 10 lakh accounts was stopped about six months ago. Out of these 10 lakh, 6,88,875 accounts have been cancelled.A December 2015 circular from the department lists 25 reasons for cancellation of pensions, which include death, invalid verification, duplication, employment, etc. Of the 2.9 lakh "dead" pensioners that the state records, the highest number is in Udaipur ­ 21,004. Jaipur comes a close second at 20,913.
The sore point for those declared dead and denied pension is that several other benefits come linked to the social justice pension. Among this is Rs 1,000 per month per child for widows under the government's Palanhar scheme.
Leela, 40 and a mother of three, has been doing odd jobs as a construction labourer. Since her husband passed away four years ago, she is eligible for the Palanhar scheme. Listed dead, she now depends only on the meagre and irregular income to run the house and educate her children, the eldest of whom is 15 years old.
Dey says that in a meeting last month with the state chief secretary, department of so. cial justice and empower ment, and other state repre sentatives, members of their "Jawab Do" movement cam paigning for accountability in government raised this issue with the government. "There is no way of grievance redressal defined for someone wrongly denied bene, fits," says Dey. Ration bene fits, says Dey, are also linked with the pensioner status.