Pensions of 13.5 lakh individuals have been stopped out of a total of 90.8 lakh people enrolled in the Social Security Pension Scheme in Rajasthan, citing reasons such as death or relocation out of the state.
One of the main reasons for this is the discrepancy between the Aadhaar database of the Central Government and the Jan Aadhaar database of the Rajasthan government.
The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) has demanded re-verification for the pension scheme in the entire state so that the pension of those impacted owing to this discrepancy, can be restored.
This issue was raised vigorously at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Right to Information (RTI) Museum in Rajasthan’s Beawar on Sunday. The foundation stone was laid by Retired Supreme Court Judge Justice Madan B. Lokur and former Chief Justice of Orissa High Court S. Muralidhar. Former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court Govind Mathur also participated in the ceremony through online mode.
During the ceremony, the issue of stopping pension under the state’s Social Security Pension Scheme was raised. Many expressed concern over stopping pension by declaring living people as ‘dead’.
The Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) said that those whose pension has been stopped due to this anomaly should be restored. Along with this, the organization said that those who have suffered owing to this discrepancy should also be compensated.
Former Supreme Court Justice Madan B Lokur said that people from all generation should come together to save the Constitution. “It is the responsibility of all of us. Stopping the Social Security Pension is wrong. The officials responsible for the negligence and wrongdoing that led to the suspension of people’s pensions should be held accountable,” he said.
“This is a serious matter and is a kind of corruption. If any person is eligible for social security pension, then he should get the pension,” he said adding, “The pensions of those whose benefits were wrongly stopped should be restored. If the government still fails to do this, there will be no choice but to take the matter to court.”
Former Chief Justice of Orissa High Court S Muralidhar said that the present case is an example of how dependence on biometric verification through Aadhaar is creating problems for people.
“This is unconstitutional and illegal. The Supreme Court was assured that the benefits of social security to people will not be stopped due to Aadhaar. This is misuse of Aadhaar. This is proof of Aadhaar’s failure. This amounts to cheating a large population of the country,” he said.
In the event, many raised concerns about the present system of Aadhaar verification and called for its immediate rectification so that the sense of social security and justice is not affected.
In addition to this, the MKSS also demanded that the state government should immediately notify the Rules to implement the Minimum Guarantee Income Act, 2023.
Comments
0 comment