On Monday, February 28, around three hundred people, all eligible beneficiaries of the Aasara pension scheme of the Telangana government, gathered at Dharna Chowk in Hyderabad to protest against the K Chandrasekhar Rao government. A majority of those who gathered were senior citizens, widows, and single women. The old age pensioners and widow pensioners constitute around 70% of the beneficiaries of the pension scheme in the state. Despite being eligible, several among those who had gathered said they haven’t received the pension since 2018.
“Won’t you give pension to 11 lakh eligible pensioners?” shouted one of the leaders who had organised the protest, and the crowd responded in unison, “Shame shame shame shame!” Despite the sweltering heat, people had travelled all the way from neighbouring districts to be a part of the protest.
Bhutharaju Thirupathamma, R Yellamma and Gaddam Jangamma are three women who travelled to Hyderabad from Devarakonda in Nalgonda district to be part of the protest. All three of them lost their husbands in 2018 and 2019 and had applied for widow pension, but haven’t received it yet. “We work as daily wage labourers and domestic workers to earn our living. The pension of Rs 2,000 would have been a big help financially had we received it,” said Yelamma. “We have gone to the labour office several times, all that they keep telling us is that it will come. It has been 3-4 years and it is yet to come,” added Jangamma.
Thirupathamma, Yellamma and Jangamma
Renuka is one of the members of the Telangana Domestic Workers Union. A few months ago, she accompanied four eligible pensioners to the collector’s office in Nampally. “On Mondays, there is generally a grievance cell. These days the grievance cell is also not functional. So we decided to try to meet the Collector. We were stopped by his subordinate staff. They did not allow us to meet him. When we told them we had to speak about the pending pension, we were told to go and ask KCR,” said Renuka.
Many pensioners who are eligible have been running from pillar to post hoping to get the Aasara pension. While many have been asked to come later, a majority have been told repeatedly that they would receive it soon. Avula Chinnanarasaiah from Turkapally in Yadadri district owns two buffaloes and manages to make ends meet by selling milk. “I received the pension three times in 2018 and then it stopped. When I enquired, the officials said I would receive it, but I never did. I have put in requests five or six times. Meanwhile, three sarpanches have changed but the pension I am eligible for is yet to come,” he said.
As per the scheme, widows, persons with disabilities, single women, beedi workers, filaria patients, toddy tappers, HIV positive persons, senior citizens, and weavers are eligible for Rs 2,000 per month as pension from the government.
In 2020, when the state was poll-bound, the government changed the age criteria for applicants under the scheme. The government declared that all those above 57 years of age, at the time of applying, would be eligible to be a part of the pension scheme in contrast to the earlier age limit of 65 years and above. This resulted in the increase in the number of beneficiaries applying for relief under different categories.
According to the Aasara statistics available online, 7.8 lakh people are eligible in the state for old age pensions under the scheme. In the last three years, more pensioners have been deleted from the database than the number of beneficiaries added. In 2021-2022 while 4,268 applications were sanctioned, 11,5013 were deleted. In 2020-2021, while 36,850 applications were sanctioned, 1,50,894 applications were deleted. Interestingly, the majority of the applications sanctioned were in areas where bye-elections and local body elections were conducted. Siddipet, Medak, Sangareddy, Karimnagar and Hanumakonda constituted the areas where maximum number of applications were sanctioned.
When the protest meeting paused for lunch, the protesters who had gathered in large numbers queued up for food. Meanwhile, 72-year-old N Devaiah, who uses a walker, and his wife Dangamma, sat down in the shade of a tree waiting for the crowd to disperse. Devaiah, who had met with a serious accident in 2018, is eligible for two pensions — an old age pension and a disability pension from the government. “I had applied for an old age pension in 2015 and again in 2018. We are struggling. We have three children, but no one takes care of us nor supports us. My wife works as a domestic worker to make ends meet. If we get the pension, then she can stop going for domestic work as her age doesn’t allow her to work,” said Devaiah.
“If they receive the money they are eligible for then they can afford their medicines and other basic necessities. There are many like them who have been abandoned by their children. The pension money will be a big blessing for people like Devaiah and Dangamma,” said Malarapu Navanitha, from the Telangana Domestic Workers Association who coordinated the travel of Devaiah and Dangamma and others from Secunderabad to be a part of the protest.
Speaking to TNM, B Kondal Reddy, activist and Aasara Pension Sadhana Committee coordinator said, “The officials say there isn’t anything pending. But the fact is that lakhs of eligible pensioners are yet to receive their due. Our demand is that all those eligible have to be paid their dues retrospectively.”
“Today, around 300 people have gathered from around 9-10 districts. They are here to raise their voice against the government to ask for what is rightfully theirs. We are planning to move legally and file a Public Interest Litigation,” added Reddy.