Monthly old age pension of Rs. 200 an insult: Jairam Ramesh

May 21, 2012

Jairam_Ramesh_295New Delhi, May 21: The monthly pension of Rs. 200 given to the elderly is "an insult to the dignity of an individual", Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has said, requesting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately review the scheme.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, the minister has recommended streamlining the disbursal system of Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS) under which Rs. 200 per month is given to three crore people over the age of 60.

"I have always held the view that the amount of pension that we are giving is an insult to the dignity of the individual," he stated in his letter dated May 16.

The minister raised the issue after a meeting with the convenors of Pension Parishad, Baba Adhav and Aruna Roy, few days back.

The key demands of the Parishad include removal of the poverty line criteria while implementing the pension scheme, increasing the amount of pension from Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 and reducing the age eligibility from 60 years to 55 for men and 50 for women.

"I agree with the Pension Parishad that use of BPL and APL criteria should be done away with. We are proposing to do away with the BPL and APL criteria in the sanitation programme and in the national rural livelihood mission (NRLM) as well," Ramesh wrote in the letter.

On timely disbursement of pension, he noted, "Pensioners do not get monthly payments but get them bundled together once every few months. The immediate task is to restructure the pension payment architecture so that pensioners get the amount on an assured date in the bank account every month."

He further added that he has recommended the same for the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY). "Even in the IAY, I have written to Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission that the BPL and APL criteria has only ended up ensuring that deserving families do not get that benefit," Ramesh said.

The Rural Development Ministry has already submitted a proposal in this regard to the Finance Ministry.

Ramesh, however, disagreed with the Parishad's suggestion to lower the eligibility age for pension from the present 60 to 55 for men and 50 for women.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Bikaner, Jan 5: A government-run hospital in Bikaner saw the death of at least 162 children, higher than the number of deaths in Kota's JK Lon Hospital in December.

"In December, we received 2,219 children from different hospitals out of which 162 children died in the Intensive Care Unit here. None of them was born at the hospital," said Dr HS Kumar, Principal, Sardar Patel Medical College, PBM Hospital.

He, however, denied any negligence on the part of the hospital and said that all efforts were made to save every single life.

The official said that all the deceased children had taken birth at the Primary Healthcare Centres (PHC) and the Community Health Centres (CHC) and were referred to the PBM Hospital in a critical condition.

"Their condition was critical and they breathed their last during treatment," he said.

At least 110 children have lost their lives at JK Lon government hospital in Kota, Rajasthan.

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News Network
April 16,2020

New Delhi, Apr 16: The number of COVID-19 cases in India has reached 12,759, the Health Ministry said on Thursday.

According to the official data, India has 10,824 active cases and 1514 discharged and cured cases. Meanwhile, 420 people have died from the disease which originated in China.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases in the country which stands at 2919, including 295 cured and discharged and 187 deaths.

With 1578 coronavirus cases, Delhi is in the second position of India's tally of corona infected people; followed by Tamil Nadu (1242) and Rajasthan (1023).

Kerala, which reported India's first coronavirus case, has 388 confirmed cases, including 295 cured and discharged and 187 deaths.

On the other hand, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana, that border the national capital, have 773 and 205 cases, respectively.

Chhattisgarh, Chandigarh and Pudducherry have reported 33, 21 and 7 cases respectively. While West Bengal has 231 coronavirus infected people, Odisha has confirmed 60 cases.

The newly carved union territories -- Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir--- have 17 and 300 cases, respectively.

In the Northeast, 33 people were detected positive for COVID-19 in Assam, which is the worst-affected states in the region. Six corona cases were confirmed from Meghalaya, two each from Manipur and Tripura and one from Arunachal Pradesh. Nagaland remains free from coronavirus till date, said the Ministry.

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News Network
January 6,2020

Hyderabad, Jan 6: AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Monday expressed solidarity with students of Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, following violence in the campus and said the "cruel attack" was meant to "punish"the students as they "dared to stand up".

"In solidarity with the brave students of JNU. This cruel attack is meant to 'punish' JNU students because they dared to stand up. It's so bad that even Union Ministers are tweeting helplessly. Modi Sarkar must answer why cops aresiding with goons," the Hyderabad MP tweeted.

The AIMIM has also tweeted expressing solidarity with the "students of JNU". "AIMIM stands in solidarity with the students of Jawaharlal Nehru University. Who feels threatened by the voice of students?," the party said in a tweet.

Violence broke out at the JNU on Sunday night as masked men armed with sticks and rods attacked students and teachers and damaged property on the campus, prompting the administration to call in police which conducted a flag march.

At least 28 people, including JNU Students' Union president Aishe Ghosh, were injured as chaos reigned on the campus for nearly two hours.

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