NEW DELHI: Jhamku Devi, 69, travelled 565km from her native village in Rajasthan’s Sadaran to Delhi for an occasion Tuesday that she hoped would settle the “dispute” over whether or not she was residing or useless.
It has been 21 months since her standing in govt information inexplicably modified to “deceased”, slicing her off the listing of beneficiaries of old-age pension. She continues to subsist on a meagre revenue rearing goats.
Earlier than making the journey to Delhi, the widow had met govt officers in Rajasthan, pleaded with them, and produced papers to show she was Jhamku Devi in flesh and blood. Nothing labored.
Hers is one among many cases in Rajasthan of individuals being denied pension due to misguided entries in survival information.
Ajmer resident Kanchan Devi, 40, hasn’t obtained her widow pension for 30 months. “I’m alleged to be useless on paper. Panchayat Samiti officers urged that I open a brand new pension account, through which case I might forfeit my arrears. I declined,” she stated.
Gudia, 22, from Mohalla Narsinghpura in Beawar was shocked when her incapacity pension was abruptly stopped in Jan 2023 with out prior discover. She learnt that her tackle had been modified within the information to “out of state” though she stays a resident of Rajasthan.
Her plight worsened when repeated Aadhaar verification makes an attempt to reinstate her title within the pension information failed due to her incapacity. “My fingerprints and pupils could not be registered. This led to my Aadhaar being deactivated in mid-2024,” stated Gudiya, who lives together with her mom.
Keli Devi from Biyakheda in Beawer stopped receiving pension after an e-Mitra operator mistakenly linked her Pension Fee Order to a different lady’s account. She died this March awaiting rectification of the information.
The Delhi occasion the place these tales had been highlighted was organised by Pension Parishad and Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) to focus on how “digital exclusion” impacts lakhs of pensioners throughout India, based mostly on instances in Rajasthan collated by numerous organisations. The Rajasthan Minimal Assured Revenue Act, 2023, entitles all aged, disabled or widowed girls to a minimal pension of Rs 1,000 a month, with an annual increment of 15%.
Nikhil Dey of Pension Parishad and MKSS stated, “Govt has successfully made Aadhaar obligatory regardless of claiming it would not be obligatory, resulting in systemic failures that alienate these most in want of assist. In Rajasthan, over 1 crore pension beneficiaries face challenges, with round 13 lakh pensions being cancelled yearly, typically resulting from delays or knowledge mismatches.”
Activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan stated accountable officers wanted to be penalised and pensions restored instantly for those who had been wrongly excluded. He stated exclusion brought on by glitches in Aadhaar verification was a violation of Supreme Court docket orders.
