Two months went by, but nearly a million pensioners are still waiting for their pensions to resume. Going against its promise of verifying and disclosing pension records by the end of July, the Rajasthan government has not even begun the process of verification in earnest.
Ever since the state government shifted pension payments from local post offices to banks as part of the switch to Aadhaar-based payments, the names of 7.6 lakh pension beneficiaries were simply struck off lists. Due to online errors at the government’s end in linking the details of beneficiaries with their Aadhaar numbers, 2.95 lakh pensioners were declared dead on papers even though they are very much alive, while 1.72 lakh pensions were cancelled for receiving double payment and 2.5 lakh pensioners were deprived without any specific reasons.
“Naini Ma mar gai (They told me Naini Ma is dead),” said the frail woman who, in her 80s, is barely able to walk or speak. She came to Jaipur as the government, which had promised to restore her pension, has still not done so after two months. Her pension stopped nearly a year ago.
