My pension is a princely sum of Rs 1812.
Having completed 35 years of
teaching, I retire with that monthly pension. Someone had warned me not to
count on the pension at all as the amount won’t be enough even to meet one’s
most basic requirements. But I had not imagined the amount to be as beggarly as
what landed in my bank account on the first working day of this month.
My first impulse was to laugh as
I stared at the phone message: “Your A/C [number] has credit for BY SALARY of
Rs 1812…” [sic]. I thought it was some mistake. When I found out that it was the
monthly pension granted to me by my magnanimous government which is Sabka Saath
for Sabka Vikas, my laughter became boisterous enough to draw Maggie’s
attention.
“What’s the joke?” She asked. She
was not quite chuffed with our government’s largesse. “Be a true patriot and
chant three cheers for our Minimum Government, Maximum Governance,” I advised
her.
“We are children of lesser
gods,” I philosophised with a grin that would erase any touch of sentiment. Anyway,
sentiments have been hijacked lock, stock, and barrel by the nationalists
nowadays and there’s not much of that stuff left for the sickluars and libtards
like me. Ours are the jokes like the ‘pension-salary’.
Government employees are the
children of the greater gods. They work less, get paid the highest, earn in
addition through bribes, bonuses, and allowances, and then retire with huge
pensions. “Even our future Constitution, Manusmriti, advocates such
divine inequalities,” I concluded.
The phone rings interrupting
my theological defence of the divine inferiority of the private sector
employees. The call is from the pension office. “You have to submit your Jeevan
Pramaan in order to continue receiving your monthly pension…”
It’s then I realised that
retiring from job puts on you the comic onus of proving to your government at
regular intervals that you are still alive by producing a certificate called
Jeevan Pramaan! Being a pensioner is quite a tough job, even if your pension is
peanuts.
Wow. I find this hard to believe. Isn't there a minimum amount fixed for this? It seems very unfair. Nevertheless, I hope you have a happy retired life.
ReplyDeleteThe minimum pension for the EPF people (private sector) is Rs 1000. And the maximum is 7500. I wonder who qualify for that maximum because the highest salary fixed is 15000! It's a rather bizarre system which I haven't understood yet.
DeleteI'm happy because I had never pinned my hope on this pension. But i think the system should change simply because it is unjust.
By the way, happy to see you after a long time.
My father was very particular that both his daughters should work in a govt sector. Reason was a pensionable job. To his dismay we both chose the pvt sector. Result was we were both handed over a number of insurance policies by him����
ReplyDeleteThere is something very unfair about a system which blatantly discriminates among its citizens. Why should one section be pampered with good wages and then pensions while the majority are left open to exploitation?
Delete