85-yr-old woman stops receiving pension after being declared 'dead' on paper
Jaipur, Apr 30: Eighty-five-year-old Gattu Devi who lives in a village in Rajasthan's Ajmer district with her family was in for a shock when she learnt that her widow pension was stopped by the government declaring that she was dead.
A resident of Banjari village under Todgarh tehsil, the grandmother of three received her last pension of Rs 1,500 in February 2022, which too she discovered recently.
"We did not check the account as we thought the pension was being deposited regularly for the past many years. I went to the panchayat samiti and realised that my mother was declared dead and pension was stopped in February last year," Chunnilal Regar, Gattu Devi's son said.
The authorities of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment have initiated an inquiry to ascertain the loophole that led to the mistake. In the meantime, the department has verified Gattu Devi's identity and said her pension along with the arrears will be released next month. According to officials, the octogenarian was declared dead by the panchayat samiti without verification.
To declare someone dead, the panchayat requires a death certificate without which it is impossible to update the system. However, my mother's name was not even present in the list of dead persons, said Regar.
Gattu Devi, accompanied by her son, also visited the e-Mitra centre for biometric identification with a fractured leg, but to no avail.
"We went to the centre three-four times. However her finger prints could not be taken due to old age," her son said.
The issue was resolved after it came to the notice of authorities.
" The matter has come to our notice. Why would the department declare someone dead? There must be some technical error. We will get the matter checked. We have also sent a person to the beneficiary's residence for verification, which has been completed. The pension will be resumed from next month and arrears will also be deposited," said Hari Mohan Meena, Director of the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment.
The authorities also pointed out that the verification process is carried out by field workers, which is subject to inquiry.
This process contains three layers which takes time, after the completion of which the pension and arrears are released.
According to authorities, the department has also started self-verification through a mobile application through which anyone, including the elderly and disabled, can get themselves verified while sitting at home. The step has been taken considering the problems that came to notice for getting biometric verification done.
After learning about Gattu Devi's case, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Department Tika Ram Jully instructed his officer on special duty to take necessary steps and start the pension immediately after taking complete information about the account.
Minister's action was called for as the state government is holding inflation relief camps where the government is providing information and benefits of its 10 ambitious schemes, including pensions, for various kinds of beneficiaries.
The inquiry revealed that the verification was pending due to an amendment in Jan Aadhar Card (ID for the citizens of Rajasthan) by the pensioners in April 2023. The Jan Aadhar team has been asked to complete the verification work at the earliest. After which, the department has activated the pension account and from next month, the pension will be resumed. The arrears will also be added to the sum.
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Tharoor junks Rijiju's claim that he agreed Cong is 'anti-women'; hails his party
New Delhi (PTI): Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Tuesday debunked Union minister Kiren Rijiju's reported claim that the opposition party leader had agreed that the Congress is "anti-women", asserting that at no point did he imply any such thing and that his party has stood for women's rights and reservation.
Reacting to Rijiju's claims, Tharoor stressed that the Congress is totally in favour of women's reservation and prepared to have it implemented right now -- without linking it to delimitation.
In a post on X, the Congress leader said, "I am sorry, but with the greatest respect for Kiren Rijiju, at no point did I say or imply any such thing -- and I have seven witnesses in the photograph who can confirm that!"
"'That was what he meant', our Minister says. No, sir, that is NOT what I meant. 'That Congress can be anti-women...he agreed in a way,' he added. I am sorry but I did NOT agree in any way," Tharoor said.
"The Congress has stood for women's rights and women's reservation under a strong woman president in Sonia Gandhi, initiated the Women's Reservation Bill, passed it in the Rajya Sabha during our tenure and supported it in the Lok Sabha when it was brought by government of India in 2023," he said.
"We are totally in favour of women's reservation and are prepared to have it implemented right now -- without linking it to delimitation," the Thiruvananthapuram MP added.
Rijiju's reported comments came while narrating details of the conversation he had with Tharoor on April 18 after the end of the three-day special sitting of Parliament during which the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill to implement 33 per cent reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 was defeated in the Lok Sabha.
Tharoor on April 18 had shared a snippet of his conversation with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju after the Lok Sabha was adjourned sine die, and said the BJP leader conceded that “no one could ever call me anti-women”.
Tharoor had said women are by far the better half of the species - 'Humans 2.0' - and deserve representation in Parliament and in every institution.
"Just don’t link their advancement to a mischievous and potentially dangerous Delimitation that could devastate our democracy," he had said on X.
Sharing a picture of some opposition MPs standing with Rijiju in the Lok Sabha, Tharoor had said, "A little post-adjournment gathering of Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha with our charming Parliamentary Affairs Minister.
"When Kiren Rijiju explained why he and his party were calling the Opposition 'mahila virodhi', it was pointed out to him that no one could ever call me anti-women! He conceded the point…"
While 298 members voted in support of the Bill, 230 MPs voted against it. Out of 528 members who voted, the Bill required 352 votes for a two-thirds majority.
The Bill proposed to increase the number of Lok Sabha seats to 816 from the current 543 to "operationalise" the women's reservation law before the 2029 parliamentary polls, following a delimitation exercise based on the 2011 Census.
Seats were also to be increased in state and UT assemblies to accommodate 33 per cent reservation for women.
The three-day special sitting was convened from April 16 to 18 to secure Parliament's approval for the Bill.
After the bill was defeated, the Congress had said the "nefarious attempt" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to link their "dangerous delimitation proposals" to women's reservation had been decisively defeated in the Lok Sabha, calling it a win for democracy and the Constitution.
I am sorry, but with the greatest respect for @KirenRijiju, at no point did I say or imply any such thing -- and I have seven witnesses in the photograph who can confirm that!
— Shashi Tharoor (@ShashiTharoor) April 28, 2026
"That was what he meant", our Minister says. No, sir, that is NOT what I meant. "That Congress can be… https://t.co/hkUsYgOY7a
