The Central Govt. has paid the elderly poor below poverty line, a pension of just 200 rs. a month since 2006 ! This amount is not inflation indexed either.
Only 3.5 crores of the estimated 10 crore elderly below poverty line are paid this pension.
But Government employees get paid 12 % over their basic pay / pension to compensate for increasing inflation.
If India cannot afford a basic pension for its poor elderly it should not be paying large sums in salaries and pensions to government employees either. Why are salaries of government employees de-linked from the rest of the economy ?
The Pension Parishad has been asking the Government for years to increase the pension amount to atleast cover basic nutrition which at today's prices would be Rs. 3000 a month. Economists have suggested ways for a small wealth tax, or increasing the tax on stock market transactions or cash transactions to finance old age pension to proper levels.
But the Government ofcourse has no time for this : It is preoccupied instead with colossal statues and bullet trains. It is a government of industrialists and big traders which sells plastic patriotism to the average indian to get itself more power.
Only 3.5 crores of the estimated 10 crore elderly below poverty line are paid this pension.
But Government employees get paid 12 % over their basic pay / pension to compensate for increasing inflation.
If India cannot afford a basic pension for its poor elderly it should not be paying large sums in salaries and pensions to government employees either. Why are salaries of government employees de-linked from the rest of the economy ?
The Pension Parishad has been asking the Government for years to increase the pension amount to atleast cover basic nutrition which at today's prices would be Rs. 3000 a month. Economists have suggested ways for a small wealth tax, or increasing the tax on stock market transactions or cash transactions to finance old age pension to proper levels.
But the Government ofcourse has no time for this : It is preoccupied instead with colossal statues and bullet trains. It is a government of industrialists and big traders which sells plastic patriotism to the average indian to get itself more power.
