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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News Network
February 18,2020

New Delhi, Feb 18: A Delhi court today sent Sharjeel Imam, who has been named as an "instigator" by the Delhi Police in its chargesheet on violent protests against the amended citizenship act at New Friends Colony near Jamia in Delhi last year, to judicial custody till March 3.

Sharjeel Imam was arrested on sedition charges last month.

The Delhi Police has filed a chargesheet before Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Gurmohina Kaur, naming Sharjeel Imam as an instigator of the violence.

It said it has attached CCTV footage, call detail records and statements of over 100 witnesses as evidence in the chargesheet.

The court had on Monday sent Sharjeel Imam to one-day custody of Delhi Police in the case.

Protestors had torched four public buses and two police vehicles as they clashed with police in New Friends Colony near Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi during the demonstration against the CAA on December 15, leaving nearly 60 people including students, cops and fire fighters injured.

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News Network
January 31,2020

New Delhi, Jan 31: Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi on Friday said she will continue her fight till the convicts in the 2012 gangrape and murder case are hanged, shortly after a Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants till further order.

Devi told reporters her "hopes are dashed" but she will continue her fight.

"These convicts have no right to live. We keep getting disappointed by the system. I will continue my fight till the convicts are hanged," she said.

A Delhi court postponed the execution of death warrants of the four convicts in the Nirbhaya gangrape and murder case till further order.

Additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana passed the order on a plea by the convicts seeking a stay on their execution on Saturday, February 1.

Devi said because of the loopholes in law the "criminals' lawyers had the audacity to challenge me in court that they will not be hanged".

The black warrants for execution of the death sentence against Pawan Gupta, Vinay Kumar Sharma, Akshay Kumar and Mukesh Kumar Singh, were issued on January 17.

A 23-year-old physiotherapy intern who came to be known as "Nirbhaya" (the fearless one) was gangraped and savagely assaulted on the night of December 16, 2012, in a moving bus in South Delhi. She died of her injuries a fortnight later in a Singapore hospital.

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News Network
May 28,2020

Pulwama, May 28: A major incident of a vehicle-borne IED blast was averted by the timely input and action by Pulwama Police, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Army, the Jammu and Kashmir Police said.

According to sources, Pulwama Police got credible information last night about a terrorist moving with an explosive-laden car ready to blast at some location. They took out various parties of police and security forces and covered all possible routes keeping themselves and the police and security forces away from the road at safer locations.

The suspected vehicle came and a few rounds were fired towards it. A little ahead this vehicle was abandoned and the driver escaped in the darkness. On close look, the vehicle was seen to be carrying heavy explosives in a drum on the rear seat. Possibly more explosive would be fitted elsewhere in the vehicle, sources added.

The vehicle was kept under watch for the night. People in nearby houses were evacuated and the vehicle exploded in situ by the Bomb Disposal Squad as moving the vehicle would have involved serious threat, sources said.

The vehicle reportedly sports a number plate of a scooter registered somewhere in Kathua district of Jammu zone, sources added.

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