Rajasthan’s elderly pensioners, dubbed the ‘living dead,’ have taken their fight for justice to Delhi. These individuals have been struggling to get their rightful pensions restored after being erroneously declared dead in official records. The pensioners, many advanced in age and frail health, made the daunting journey to the national capital hoping to draw attention to their plight.
They have been battling this bureaucratic nightmare for years, with local authorities repeatedly ignoring their pleas. Ram Kishan, one of the affected pensioners, said, “We have been alive all these years and surviving on the kindness of relatives and neighbors. All we ask is for our rightful pensions to be restored, so we can live our remaining years with dignity.”
Their stories highlight significant flaws in the state’s administrative system, causing undue distress among the elderly population.
The pensioners believe their visible presence in Delhi will pressure relevant authorities to rectify the errors and offer compensation for the hardships endured. The group’s plight serves as a call to action for government officials to audit and correct records more diligently, ensuring such mistakes do not happen again. The pensioners see their protest in Delhi as their last hope for justice and believe their campaign will shed light on the urgent need for systemic reforms.
At a press conference organized by the Pension Parishad and the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), various testimonies took center stage. The event aimed to highlight the plight of pensioners facing digital exclusion and denial of benefits.
Elderly fight against pension errors
MKSS founder Nikhil Dey presented cases from across Rajasthan, indicating that lakhs of pensioners, including the elderly, disabled, and widows, have been deprived of pensions due to various administrative and technical hurdles. The organizations also claimed that in the last seven months, “no new beneficiary has been able to apply for disability pensions.”
Among the pensioners present was 74-year-old Pani Deva, whose pension was stopped two years ago. Deva learned at an e-Mitra center that her account had been suspended as she was marked “out of state,” despite never having left her district.
Similarly, 72-year-old Ghisi Devi has been officially declared “out of state,” with her pension stopped since February 2022. Her fingerprints are no longer readable, making updating her Aadhaar difficult. Gudiya, a 22-year-old with a 40% locomotor disability, has also been marked “out of state,” causing her disability pension to stop since May 2023.
Her mother, Poonam Singh, said her daughter’s pension of Rs 750 “is vital for the family.”
The absurd case of Kanchan Devi, 41, who was marked dead in official records, highlights the severity of the issue. “Jeete jee bhoot banke ghoom rahi hoon,” she said, as her pension under the Chief Minister’s Widow Pension Scheme has been suspended since April 2022. Rajasthan government officials, when contacted, said, “On the basis of wrong information, the pensions of some persons have been stopped by the sanctioning officers by declaring them dead or due to their moving out of the state or for any other reason.
A meeting was held on September 2 and 12… and a letter was sent to all District Collectors to investigate and restart all pensions canceled in the last two years on the basis of wrong information…”
The plight of Rajasthan’s pensioners highlights the broader issue of digital exclusion and the need for more inclusive solutions in an increasingly digitized world. Efforts are being made to bridge this divide, but for many pensioners, the digital era has already become a significant obstacle to their survival.
