To Date: 21-1-11.
Shri Vilasrao deshmukh,
Hon. Minister for Rural Development,
Bhikaji Cama Place, New Delhi-110066.
Respected Sir,
Sub: Budget for 2011-12 for Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension (IGNOAP) to Senior Citizens.
1. We, the Senior Citizens of India, welcome you to your new assignment of very important portfolio of Rural Development and trust that you will shine out in this new task of welfare of the vast majority of the population of the Country, majority living in rural areas, due to your extra ordinary zeal & enthusiasm in helping poor people.
2. Your Ministry is in charge of looking after the payment of Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension (IGNOAP) to poor Senior Citizens of the country belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) families, which consists of 37% of 10 crore Senior Citizens.
3. The well-being of senior citizens is mandated in the Constitution of India under Article 41. The Right to Equality is guaranteed by the Constitution as a Fundamental Right. Population Ageing is one of the most important global trends of the 21st century. 21st century may be considered as the Century of Elderly Persons and the 22nd will experience the phenomenon of “ageing of the aged”. In 2011, there will be 100 million senior citizens that would swell to 143 million by 2021 with 51% amongst them being women. Those over 80 years is the fastest growing segment of the population with the current 1% share in the total population expected to grow to 3.5% by the year 2050. The increase in life expectancy has resulted in a major shift in the age group of 80 years and over. During 2006-2050, while the overall population of India will rise by 40%, those over 60 years will increase by 270% and 80+ by 500%. This emerging trends call for tremendous efforts on the part of Your Ministry to cope up with new demands and challenges-economic, emotional and health of BPL Senior Citizens. 100 million Senior Citizens is a very large segment of Electorate with influence on their children, their spouse & aged grandchildren and should therefore be looked after well by the Government.
4. Senior citizens are a valuable resource for the county and very large number of BPL Senior Citizens look at Your Ministry to create an environment that provides them with equal opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation in the society. Your Ministry has to extend their support for the poor segment above 60 years in urban and rural areas for social security, health care, shelter, welfare and protection against abuse and exploitation so that they can improve their quality of lives. Proper provision of funds for this purpose in ensuing Budget will help achieve this long felt necessity.
5. The Ministry of Rural Development has issued instructions to States/UTs to grant IGNOPension to those citizens, who are 65 and above and belong to a household below the poverty line, which is decided as per their guidelines for BPL Census, 2002. As per definition of Senior Citizen in National Policy (NPOP,99), any citizen of 60 & above is considered a Senior Citizen. In spite of such a positive Policy Directive, payment is provided at present for only those of 65 & above. Position of widows and those above 80 is well known to you and all these segments of the Community of Senior Citizens are required to be provided with some sort of financial security by way of monthly Pension. This requires your personal attention for immediate action and making proper provision of funds in 2011-12.
6. In the guidelines issued by your Ministry for classifying a citizen as belonging to BPL Family, 13 socio-economic parameters are prescribed to identify relative position of each family in rural area by giving variable scores from village to village depending upon local conditions for targeting people under Ministry’s Rural BPL Programmes. No such guidelines are issued by Ministry of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation for classifying an urban citizen as BPL. 13 socio-economic parameters may be useful to THE Ministry Of Rural Development for launching a particular scheme in a particular village or for a particular family but in no way can help in deciding the eligibility to pay this monthly Pension to Senior Citizens having megre income or staying hand to mouth in their last spell of life. How far such house to house survey applying 13 complicated parameters having 4 different scoring can be useful to decide eligibility for monthly Pension to Senior Citizens? There is no necessity of targeting Senior Citizens neither for paying IGNOAP nor to fix their interse eligibility. Moreover, such guidelines go on changing for every Five Year Plan Period. We may give one example to consider the impracticality of such guidelines. In the very well developed suburb of Mira Road-Bhayander of Mumbai, there are more than 12 lakhs of citizens having more than 1.5 lakhs Senior Citizens, out of which 90 thousand are above 65 and more than 50 thousand are living below poverty line and pass their last spell of life hand to mouth. The number of all BPL Families for this Area is only 17-seventeen, as advised by Municipal Corporation vide their letter no. ja.kra.manapa/sujayo/7/2009-10
dt 14-8-09. It would be clear from this that eligible Senior Citizens are not classified as belonging to BPL Families and not paid THIS Pension due to complicated procedures causing corruption at various levels. Considering the poverty lines of each State, a financial income limit per month or per annum should be fixed for paying this Pension to Senior Citizens irrespective of their family income, as Senior Citizens staying in joint families and having no income or megre income are not properly looked after by children and not paid any pocket money etc. State of Maharashtra has fixed Rs. 21000 p.a. for their Schemes.
7. There is no definition of Below Poverty Individual or Family either with Ministry of Rural Development or Planning Commission. The Planning Commission estimates the number and percentage of poor at National & State levels on the basis of rough and large sample survey data on house hold consumer expenditure at All-India figure of Rs 356.30 in Rural and Rs 538.60 in Urban Areas (Press Information Bureau Estimates notified on 21-3-07). Such rough estimation cannot be used for deciding eligibility for payment of this Pension to Senior Citizens. In view of the above position and there being 3 Ministries of Rural Development, Housing & Urban Development and Planning Commission, it is requested that this simple work of payment to Senior Citizens may be assigned to the nodal Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment by fixing definition of Poverty Line and not insisting on the unwarranted condition of belonging to BPL Family classified as per unwanted norms.
8. Level of income security provided at present to BPL is Rs 200 from Central Govt & similar amount or more from State/UT concerned. Monthly Pension of Rs 400 or near about is a mockery of human beings and in view of recent development, Human Rights Commission may take up this as violation of Human Rights and force the Government to keep this Pension sufficiently high to keep the old human beings to survive! Government spends Rs 20000 p.a. for one Under Trial Prisoner and much more for convicts, whereas helpless BPL Senior Citizens, who are fragile and sickly due to ageing, are paid Rs 400 p.m. in some places and many States/UTs are not giving a single pie! Even alcoholic & drug addicts are granted Rs 900 p.m. by same Govt for food during their remaining in Anti-addict Centres! Considering the poverty lines of each State, a financial income limit per month or per annum should be fixed for paying this Pension to Senior Citizens irrespective of their family income, as Senior Citizens staying in Joint Families and having no income or megre income are not properly looked after by children and not paid any pocket money etc. Proper financial limit for eligibility and for amount of monthly Pension should be fixed by taking into account present economic condition of the Country having more than 1.7 lakh Indians having more than 5 crore worth assets and topping in first few richest persons in the World; GDP; Per Capita Income of Indian Citizen; rates of minimum wages; minimum pay & pension given recently to Government employees etc in place of present complicated method of 13 parameters. Limits adopted by Delhi Govt should be adopted for making provision of funds and this limit got accepted by Govt. Para 25 of NPOP,99 lays down that rate of monthly pension will need to be revised at intervals (6 monthly as per Dearness index of Govt employees) so that inflation does not deflate its real purchasing power. Senior Citizens in BPL category are weaker financially, physically and socially, more discarded by family, society & Govt than all groups included in Disadvantaged Group by Planning Commission as well as Women, Children, handicapped etc. All funds provided for such sections of Society in Five Year Plan should be increased or separately provided for poor Senior Citizens for all purposes applicable to all Disadvantaged Group specified by Planning Commission.
We request you earnestly to consider these aspects sympathetically and take prompt & proper action very early. A line in reply in terms of para 66 of Office Manual will be very much appreciated.
Thanking You,
Yours Sincerely
(M.V.Ruparelia)
Copy forwarded for getting proper provision of funds made by Rural Development Ministry to
i) Shri Pranav Mukherji, Hon. Minister of Finance, Government of India,
North Block, New Delhi-110 011. ii) Shri Mukul Wasnikji, Hon. Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment, Government of India, Shastri Bhavan, New Delhi-110 001.
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