മുതിര്‍ന്ന പൌരന്മാര്‍ക്ക് വേണ്ടി മുതിര്‍ന്ന പൌരന്മാരാല്‍ നടത്തുന്ന ഒരു സീനിയര്‍ സിറ്റിസന്‍ ഹോസ്റ്റല്‍!

കേരളത്തില്‍ മദ്ധ്യ തിരുവിതാംകൂര്‍ പ്രദേശത്തു എവിടെയെങ്കിലും സൌകര്യ പ്രദമായ ഒരു പത്തിരുപത്തഞ്ചു സെന്റ് സ്ഥലത്ത് ഒരു സീനിയര്‍ സിറ്റിസന്‍ ഹോസ്റ്റല്‍ ആരംഭിക്കണം എന്നൊരു ആശയം മനസ്സില്‍ ഉടലെടുത്തിട്ടു കുറെ നാളായി. അതെങ്ങനെ എന്നൊക്കെ ചിന്തിച്ചതിനെ തുടര്‍ന്നു ഈ ആശയത്തിനു എത്ര മാത്രം സ്വീകാര്യത കിട്ടും എന്നൊന്ന് മനസ്സിലാക്കണമെന്ന് തോന്നി. അതിനാലാണ് ഈ ലേഖനം എന്റെ ബ്ലോഗ്‌ സൈറ്റില്‍ ഇപ്പോള്‍ പ്രസിദ്ധീകരിക്കുന്നത്.

വാര്‍ദ്ധക്യത്തില്‍ കാലൂന്നിയ ഒരു ചെറു വൃദ്ധന്‍ ആണ് ഞാന്‍. സര്‍ക്കാരിന്റെ ഭാഷ്യത്തില്‍ മുതിര്‍ന്ന പൌരന്‍. എന്റെ ഭാര്യയും അങ്ങനെ തന്നെ.

ഇപ്പോള്‍ ഞങ്ങള്‍ക്ക് ഞങ്ങളുടെ കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ പലതും സ്വയം ചെയ്യാന്‍ കഴിവുണ്ട്. അതെത്ര കാലം അങ്ങനെ പോകും എന്നതിലേ ഒരു ഉറപ്പ് ഇല്ലാതുള്ളൂ.

ഏകദേശം നാല് ദശകത്തോളം ഒരു വലിയ പൊതു മേഖല സംരംഭത്തില്‍ മാനേജ് മെന്റ് തലത്തില്‍ കേരളത്തിനു വെളിയില്‍ ജോലി നോക്കിയിട്ട് റിട്ടയര്‍ ചെയ്ത ഒരു എഞ്ചിനീയര്‍ ആണ് ഞാന്‍. പല കാര്യങ്ങളും ചെയ്യാന്‍ അറിവും പ്രാപ്തിയും തത്ക്കാലം ഉണ്ടെങ്കിലും കേരളത്തില്‍ മദ്ധ്യതിരുവിതാം കൂറിലെ ഇലന്തൂരില്‍ ശരിക്കും ഒരു  റിട്ടയാര്‍ഡ്‌ ജീവിതം നയിച്ച്‌ കൊണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു.

ഈ മദ്ധ്യ തിരുവിതാംകൂര്‍ പ്രദേശം ഒരു വിധത്തില്‍ നോക്കിയാല്‍ റിട്ടയേര്‍ഡ്‌ പൌരന്മാരുടെ ഒരു ആവാസ കേന്ദ്രം എന്ന് വേണമെങ്കില്‍ പറയാം. രണ്ടായിരമോ, മൂവായിരമോ അതില്‍ കൂടുതലോ ചതുരശ്ര അടി വിസ്തീര്‍ണ്ണം ഒക്കെയുള്ള, എല്ലാ വിധ ആധുനിക സൌകര്യങ്ങളും ഉള്ള വീടുകളില്‍ താമസിക്കുന്നവര്‍ ആണ് കൂടുതലും. ഈ വക സൌകര്യങ്ങള്‍ അവരുടെയോ, വിദേശങ്ങളില്‍ ജോലി ചെയ്യുന്ന അവരുടെ മക്കളുടെയോ ഒക്കെ അദ്ധ്വാന ഫലം ആയി ഉണ്ടായിട്ടുള്ളതും ആണ് എന്നതും ഒരു വാസ്തവം.

എന്നാല്‍ ഈ സമൃദ്ധിയിലും ഞങ്ങളെ ഒക്കെ തുറിച്ചു നോക്കുന്ന ഒരു പേടിപ്പെടുത്തുന്ന സത്യം ഉണ്ട്. ഞങ്ങള്‍ വയസ്സന്മാരും വയസ്സികളും  കണ്ണടച്ച് ഇരുട്ടാക്കി കാണാന്‍ വിസമ്മതിക്കുന്ന ഒരു പരമാര്‍ഥം!

പരസഹായം ഇല്ലാതെ ജീവിതത്തിന്റെ സായം സന്ധ്യയില്‍ അധിക കാലം പിടിച്ചു നില്ക്കാന്‍ കേരളത്തില്‍ ഒറ്റപ്പെട്ട റിട്ടയേര്‍ഡ്‌ ജീവിതം നയിക്കുന്ന ഞങ്ങളെ പോലുള്ളവര്‍ക്ക് കഴിയില്ല എന്ന പരമാര്‍ത്ഥം!

ഈ വിധത്തില്‍ കേരളത്തില്‍ ജീവിതം നയിക്കുന്ന ഞങ്ങളെ പോലുള്ള വയസ്സന്മാരും വയസ്സികളും ഒരു കാര്യത്തില്‍ ഏതാണ്ട് ഒരേ അഭിപ്രായക്കാരാണ്. വലിയ സൌകര്യങ്ങള്‍ ഉള്ള വീടുകളില്‍ തനിയെ താമസിക്കണമെങ്കില്‍ നല്ല മാസ വരുമാനവും ബാങ്ക് ബാലന്‍സും മാത്രം ഉണ്ടായിട്ടു കാര്യമില്ല. പല കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ക്കും പരസഹായം ആവശ്യമാണ്‌. തെളിച്ചു പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ വീട്ടില്‍ സഹായത്തിനു ചെറുപ്പക്കാരായ മക്കളോ, മരു മക്കളോ ഒക്കെ കൂട്ട് വേണം. അതല്ലെങ്കില്‍ വിശ്വസ്തരായ ജോലിക്കാര്‍ വേണം.

കേരളത്തില്‍ റിട്ടയേര്‍ഡ്‌ ജീവിതം നയിക്കുന്ന ഞങ്ങളെ പോലുള്ളവര്‍ക്ക് മുമ്പിലുള്ള പ്രധാന ചോദ്യ ചിഹ്നവും ഇത് തന്നെ. ഇന്ന് പണ്ടത്തെ കാലമല്ല. മക്കള്‍ ഒന്നോ രണ്ടോ മാത്രം. അവര്‍ അവരുടെ ജോലി സംബന്ധമായും അവരുടെ മക്കളുടെ പഠനസംബന്ധമായും വിദേശത്തോ വിദൂരങ്ങളിലോ കൂട് കൂട്ടിയവര്‍. അവര്‍ക്ക് അവരുടെ കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ തന്നെ നോക്കി നടത്താന്‍ സമയവും സൌകര്യവും ഇല്ല, പിന്നെങ്ങനെ നാട്ടില്‍ ഒറ്റപ്പെട്ട ജീവിതം നയിക്കുന്ന മാതാപിതാക്കള്‍ക്ക് ഏറ്റവും അത്യാവശ്യമായ ദൈനംദിന സഹായങ്ങള്‍ ചെയ്തു കൊടുക്കും?

ഇനി മാതാപിതാക്കള്‍ അവരുടെ കൂടെ പോയി താമസിക്കാമെന്നു വച്ചാലോ? പട്ടണങ്ങളിലെ ചെറിയ വീടുകളിലും ഫ്ലാറ്റുകളിലും അങ്ങനെ പോയി കൂട്ട് കുടുംബമായി താമസിക്കാന്‍ പല വിധ അസൌകര്യങ്ങളും ഉണ്ട് എന്ന കാര്യം അങ്ങനെ ഒന്ന് ചെയ്യാന്‍ തടസ്സമായി നില്‍ക്കുന്നു.

അപ്പോള്‍ അത് പറ്റാത്ത കാര്യം. വീട്ടില്‍ സഹായത്തിനു നല്ല ഒരു ജോലിക്കാരിയെ കിട്ടിയാല്‍ എല്ലാം ആയി എന്ന് വിചാരിക്കുന്ന ആള്‍ക്കാര്‍ പലരും ഞങ്ങടെ കൂട്ടങ്ങളില്‍ ധാരാളം ഉണ്ട്. എന്നാല്‍ ഇന്ന് കേരളത്തില്‍ പൊതുവായി നേരിടുന്ന ഒരു പ്രശ്നം  വിശ്വസിച്ചു  ജോലി ഏല്‍പ്പിക്കാന്‍ പറ്റിയ  വീട്ടു ജോലിക്കാരുടെ അഭാവം തന്നെ. വീട്ടുജോലിയെ ഹീനമായ ജോലി എന്ന് കാണുന്ന മലയാളി മനോഭാവം ഈ പ്രശ്നത്തിന്റെ ആക്കം കൂട്ടുന്നു.

പ്രായമായ ഞങ്ങളില്‍ ആര്‍ക്കെങ്കിലും ഒരു അസുഖം പിടിപെട്ടു എന്ന് കരുതുക. ജീവിതം ഗുരുതര പ്രശ്നമായി തീരും. കുറെ ദിവസങ്ങളിലേക്ക് ഹോം നെഴ്സ്‌ കണ്ടെത്തുകയെന്നതും അത്ര എളുപ്പമല്ല. ദിവസം മുഴുവനും ജോലിക്ക് വീട്ടില്‍ ജോലിക്കാര്‍ ഉണ്ടാവുക എന്നത് നടക്കാന്‍ കഴിയാത്ത സ്വപ്നം പോലെ എന്ന് പറഞ്ഞാല്‍ മതിയല്ലോ.

സ്വയം കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ ചെയ്യാന്‍ സാധിക്കാത്ത പ്രായമായവരെ സംരക്ഷിക്കാന്‍ വീട്ടില്‍ മുഴുവന്‍ സമയ ജോലിക്കാരും ഹോം നഴ്സും ഒക്കെ വേണ്ടി വരും. ഏറ്റവും കുറഞ്ഞത്‌ മാസം നാല്‍പതിനായിരം രൂപ ഇതിനു ഇന്ന് വേണ്ടി വരും. പണം ഉണ്ടായാല്‍ മാത്രം കാര്യം നടക്കില്ല എന്നത് വേറെ കാര്യം.

പ്രായമായ ഞങ്ങളെ പോലുള്ളവര്‍ക്ക് ഭക്ഷണവും മരുന്നും ഒക്കെ പോലെ ആവശ്യമാണ്‌ മറ്റുള്ളവരുമായി സംസാരിക്കുന്നതും ഇടപഴകുന്നതും. അതിനു പറ്റിയില്ലെങ്കില്‍ വലിയ വീട് കാരാഗൃഹ സമാനം ആയി തീരും.

തന്നെത്താന്‍ കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ നടത്താന്‍ പ്രാപ്തിയുള്ള എന്നെപ്പോലുള്ള ചില മുതിര്‍ന്ന പൌരന്മാരോട് ഞാനീ കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ അടുത്തയിടെ സംസാരിച്ചു. ഇതൊക്കെ ശരിയെന്നു അവര്‍ പറയുമ്പോഴും അങ്ങനെ ഒരു പ്രശ്നം അവരുടെ ജീവിതത്തില്‍ എന്നെങ്കിലും ഉണ്ടാകുമെന്ന് ചിന്തിക്കാനും അതിനു പോംവഴി ആരായാനും പലര്‍ക്കും വിമുഖത ആണ് എന്നതും ഒരു വാസ്തവം എന്ന് എനിക്ക് മനസ്സിലായി.

ചിലര്‍ ഇതിനെ വളരെ ലഘൂകരിച്ചു കാണാന്‍ കഷ്ടപ്പെടുന്നതും ഞാന്‍ കണ്ടിരിക്കുന്നു. പരസഹായം വേണ്ടി വന്നാല്‍ വൃദ്ധസദനത്തിലോ സ്വാന്ത്വന ഭവനത്തിലോ പോയി കുറെ കാശും കൊടുത്ത് അവിടെ കഴിയാം എന്നാണു പലരും ധരിച്ചു വച്ചിരിക്കുന്നത്.

എന്നാല്‍ നല്ല രീതിയില്‍ നടക്കുന്ന വൃദ്ധസദനങ്ങളും സ്വാന്ത്വന ഭവനങ്ങളും ആവശ്യത്തില്‍ കുറവാണ് എന്നതാണ് ഇന്നത്തെ സ്ഥിതി. ഇതൊക്കെയും ഇപ്പോള്‍ പള്ളികളും പട്ടക്കാരും മറ്റും നടത്തുന്നതാണ്. സ്വകാര്യ മേഖലയില്‍ ലാഭക്കൊതിയോടെ  നടത്തുന്ന സ്ഥാപനങ്ങളും അവിടവിടെ മുളച്ചു വരുന്നു.
ഇതില്‍ അഡ്മിഷന്‍ കിട്ടാന്‍ പണം വാരിക്കോരി ചിലവാക്കേണ്ടി വരും എന്നതും കണ്ടില്ല എന്ന് വയ്ക്കാന്‍ പറ്റില്ല.

സ്വയം കാര്യങ്ങള്‍ നടത്താന്‍ പ്രാപ്തിയുള്ള കാലത്ത് പല കാര്യങ്ങളില്‍ പരിഞാനമുള്ള മുതിര്‍ന്ന പൌരന്മാര്‍ക്ക് എന്തുകൊണ്ട് മുന്നോട്ടു വന്നു കൂടാ? ഒരു സീനിയര്‍ സിറ്റിസന്‍ കൂട്ടായ്മ എന്തുകൊണ്ട് ഇതിനു വേണ്ടി ആരംഭിച്ചു കൂടാ?

എന്റെ കാഴ്ചപ്പാടില്‍ മാതൃകാ പരമായി മുതിര്‍ന്ന പൌരന്മാര്‍ക്ക് മുതിര്‍ന്ന പൌരന്മാരാല്‍ നടത്തപ്പെടുന്ന സീനിയര്‍ സിറ്റിസന്‍ ഹോസ്റ്റല്‍ ആരംഭിക്കാനും ഒക്കെ കഴിയും.ആര്‍ക്കും വലിയ സാമ്പത്തിക ബാധ്യതകള്‍ ഇല്ലാതെ തന്നെ.

ഒന്ന് ആരംഭിച്ചാല്‍ അത് നോക്കി മറ്റു സ്ഥലങ്ങളില്‍ മറ്റു ഗ്രൂപ്പു കള്‍ക്കും  അത് സാധിക്കും.

നിങ്ങള്‍ ഇതിനോട് യോജിക്കുന്നുണ്ടോ?

ഉണ്ടെങ്കില്‍ നമുക്ക് കൂട്ടായി പ്രയഗ്നിക്കാം.

ഇത് പരമാവധി ഷെയര്‍ ചെയ്യുമല്ലോ.

One small Thing I expect the Government of India to Do for Me and Other Law Abiding Citizens!

Elected peoples' representatives to both the central and the state legislative bodies are supposed to make laws that ensure better governance in any democratic nation.

India being one of the largest democracies in the world and I being a proud Indian senior citizen to be part of this great cultural cradle of the world, it is quite natural for me and others like me to expect my country to be one of the best as far as governance and standard of living are concerned.

Unfortunately, it is not so at present. In my humble opinion, India's problems lie with some attitudinal problems linked to its majority people.

Individually, Indians are good people, but collectively they are a confused lot divided over petty issues and not capable of resolving their problems. When it comes to collective issues, they are also not capable of prioritizing those issues and solving those in a systematic manner.

This confusion reflects in the mindsets of  political leaders, bureaucratic hierarchy, judiciary, the law enforcement agencies, media people and the so called intelligentsia more or less in a similar fashion as that of the general populace.

The best Indian minds think differently than the average Indian group thinking, regardless of the class to which the group belongs!

Hence the best Indian individuals find it to be at odds with the general Indian attitudes. Many such Indians, therefore try to escape from their home land making the average Indian thoughts getting further laced with much stupidity!

Average Indians are too superstitious, too suspicious, too greedy, too selfish, too anxious about the future of their wards, too little bothered about their civic responsibilities and too little reflective of their literacy regardless of their certified educational qualifications!

As a matter of fact, there is no logical need for them to be so. But logic does not seem to go well with the average Indian mind. Thus group common sense keeps declining in India in the present times!

As group common sense keep declining in India, the average ability of the Indian leaders too seems to decline. The Indian law makers do not seem to think of making any laws by application of their minds, but keep passing laws or keep amending existing laws that are dictated to them from invisible sources. This makes the Indian judiciary sluggish and contradictory to themselves while trying to interpret such laws!

Indian democracy is getting complicated every year because the Indian elected leaders no longer apply their minds collectively in making laws that bring out a better governed India. Laws are routinely made that makes existing laws much more complicated and while at the same time laws are not made where it is much needed.

I being a senior citizen who worked in the Indian governmental system for nearly four decades clearly see this erosion in governance where corruption and nepotism keep rising. 

I think the Indian school education system has to change a bit to include much topics that inculcate positive thinking in children and to enhance civic sense which might bring about a change in the collective Indian mindset in another few generations!

This much I wrote to give an indirect background to the title of this blog article. Both the Indian public and the Indian politicians are pretty unconcerned with their own lives that they keep talking about larger issues that have little solutions immediately while pretty problems that could be resolved easily keep pending for years!

Let me highlight one  such small issue that the Indian politicians and bureaucrats could resolve much easily and make citizens lives better. Yes, I want to talk about :

The great Indian Id and address confusion:

With a few hostile or not-so-friendly neighboring nations around, India too is worried about much internal security issues caused by ingress of unwanted or mischievous aliens within the length and breadth of its geography causing much violence within the country.

These intermixing of the aliens withing the Indian populace is being projected as a big security threat to the country in general and the Indian executive keep devising and advising its political masters various ways and means to address this security issue.

Evolution of the making and issue of proper identity documents to genuine citizens, called Id cards, have been a big governance process for the Indian government for the past few decades. Perhaps the Indian government might have spent thousands of crores of rupees and millions of man-hours for this process and yet it remains as an unresolved thing that directly reflects the stupidity that the Indian governmental systems have in common!

Indian citizens are now required to make several id cards from almost all government departments and even commercial establishments that are all stupidly interrelated and digitally linked and yet so stupidly complicated that gives all fraudsters and aliens the much needed opportunity to create as many false id's as may be required while the law abiding citizens are taken for a painful ride!

The original idea of bringing better security has been so foolishly jeopardized by none other than the overzealous or stupid governmental executive machinery!

After much brainstorming the Indian government evolved the final thing in Id documentation called the Aadhar card by spending much from the tax payers money and evolving even a statute and a statutory authority.

Regrettably India has now a unique identity crisis about which I had written long ago and the problem remains without any  solution. 

What is the stupidity here?

The fellows who evolved these systems seem to have forgotten certain basic things that are too obvious if that person has some reasonable common sense!

If an Id document is something original and unique, how could it be based on some other similar document issued earlier by somebody for some other purpose? How would you eliminate an error that has crept in some id card made earlier that was made without much check when you base your new error free id card to something previous?

Normally a document is something truly certified by someone. How do you establish your identity? Either you declare yourself with your official name with any known aliases and declare your date of birth, year of birth, the names of your father and mother, the address of your present living. These basic information could be further fortified by other information such as your bio-metrics, present photograph, your mother tongue, your highest educational qualification, your profession, the address of your parents or your referential relatives living in India if any. If you have any supporting documents in proof of the above, the copies of which could be supplied duly attested by a notary public or any gazetted officer or you yourself in case you are a known citizen with some identifiable credentials.

Since your address is something that keep changing in accordance with your profession, you are the best person to certify your address for all communications that is valid for a few months at least. 

But stupid Indian officials think the other way. They need an address proof document for creating the present address proof! So if I stay now in one place and I have a previous document created with another address somehow, the Indian officialdom does not allow me to change my address!

Can anybody think of any better way to create false documents that have untraceable address information? 

A genuine citizen would not be interested or would not like to create an id document with any erroneous information. However that is not the case with fraudsters or mischief creators. A system that easily allows them to create such falsified document on the basis of other falsified documents serves much of their purpose. 

Imagine the situation and the possibilities in which anyone  can make an Indian  id card such as the so called Aadhar card with un- rectified errors that could have been easily rectified by a simple affidavit or declaration made by a law abiding  citizen but could not because of the stupid system  made by the foolish officials of the Indian governmental system?

My estimate and assessment is that India now has so many id and address documents with its citizens which are all different in one way or the other, all possible due to the haphazard and irresponsible working of various government departments and their officials.

The interesting thing is that you could get a new id card with entirely new id information if the data entry operator from the government side erred, even when you filed all correct information!

All this is happening because, India does not have any law which stipulates the manner in which id or address proof is made or created. All what India has is procedures made by lower end staff in various governmental departments that are all mutually contradictory giving rise to situations that enhance generation of more and more falsified documents!

Let me tell you my own personal experience with regard to the much publicized and  unresolved Aadhar card making and use in this country.

Do you know that Aadhar card is bilingual? Yes, it is. The card has your id and address information in English and the local state language. Suppose you happen to reside in Tamil Nadu at the time of your enrollment for making Aadhar, your card comes with your name and address in English and Tamil even when Tamil is alien to you. So, you cannot possibly know whether the id and address written in your Aadhar card in Tamil is right or wrong. It was created by the person who enrolled you in Tamil Nadu.

Suppose that you now got your residence shifted to Kerala where the language is Malayalam. The authorities allow you to change your address all by yourself online. But the catch is that you or your enrollment agency in Kerala should know Tamil. Because the stupid Aadhar authority does not allow you to change your second language any time later! And imagine the situation when you do not know Malayalam as well. In the Aadhar card there is all possibility that you change to some other person!

I had thought about this and could not come with any logic for this great stupidity of Aadhar authorities! Can you?

Another thing that I observed recently is that Aadhar card is not accepted by many other government authorities as a proof for your age or date of birth even when this is clearly printed on your Aadhar card. Unfortunately, officials in India are find pleasure in violating the rules! They want the people to go to the courts and enhance litigation against the government as much as possible! No wonder then that the courts in India are over loaded!

I think there should be a law that terminates the services of a government servant or group of officials who knowingly or unknowing misrepresent a law to force a citizen or other department to create a court litigation!

There are several such small issues that make Indian governance a nightmare to law abiding citizens and business people.

Many people shy away from starting business ventures in India because they are genuinely scared of Indian officials who could make their lives miserable by stupid interpretation of laws the way they like.

Only those who are willing to fall in line with government officials and their masters can do things smoothly in India.

And that is the curse of India!

No wonder then that India is perceived as corrupt to the core!

No wonder then that employment opportunities do not rise in this country.

I earnestly hope some of my concerned country men should read this and respond instead of being walking dead bodies of India! 

Can I hope?

EPFO Pension Fiasco: An Example How Bad Governance Alienate People from Government in India!

There are now millions of people in India like me who feel that the Employees' Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) coming under the administrative jurisdiction of the Ministry of Labor and Employment of India, has degraded itself to such an extent that it is better considered as a typical case of bad governance in India.

If this organization is any yardstick, it is not at all difficult to find that India as a nation has miserably failed to deliver good governance.

Governance in India had been apparently so lethargic in the past several years. It gave a golden opportunity to Shri Narendra Modi to make fervent appeals to the people of India to vote for a change to bring good governance in India.

The people fed up of insensitive bad governance, earnestly wishing dynamic good governance, responded positively. Shri Narendra Modi became the Prime Minister of India a couple of years ago. In about a year he will be completing his five year term as the PM of India. Most likely he would again approach the people with the same slogan of good governance!

But what happened in the past four years? Did he command to bring about good governance?

The answer is debatable. Some say yes, while several feel the other way. 

Whatever those be, I personally feel that he had missed a golden opportunity to act positively and gain the goodwill of millions of retired and working employees of India. He could have easily accomplished that by simply acting decisively in just one case which is now known as the EPFO Pension Fiasco of India. (Click this hyperlink to read the blog article to know more about it)

It was all about bringing reasonable social security to millions of working class people of India who are not beneficiaries of government pensions. It was all about implementing a scheme in the letter and spirit of a statute made by the central government some years ago. It was all about removing certain administrative misdeeds created by the government officialdom. It was an opportunity to bring about solace to millions of retired people by way of getting them their due pensions from the funds that they and their employers contributed over the years. It was nothing complicated or anything that the government could not do. It even had a Supreme Court directive to the government to act!

But unfortunately the EPFO controlled by the government of India acted in the most unexpected manner. They forgot that they are an organisation for social welfare and they are required to act for the benefit of the people covered by the scheme and not against them.

The acts done by EPFO in recent years have been most shameful and undesirable. It acted to divide the people and create enormous confusions and complications that none could ever get any justified pension benefits from it in their life time! The government of India in turn failed to intervene and resolve the complications created by its officials. The political superiors simply bent their knees before the powerful officials and in turn became supporters of the latter. They deviated from the principles of good governance and became sheepishly party to bad governance.

The issue was brought to the notice of the government of India several times from different quarters and the issue got debated in the parliament several times. Conflicting news pervaded the media from time to time making the EPFO-pensioners rejoice and weep at the same time.

Yet the government did not act to bring justice to the retired people who earnestly waited and  hoped to get  justice. They thought their once beloved PM and proponent of good governance- Narendra Modi-  would make a decisive intervention.

Unfortunately for them nothing of that sort happened.

They cursed their fate. They cursed themselves for believing good governance would come as promised.

It was nothing complicated or impossible. It was simply a matter of removing certain elements of official misdeeds and bringing administration in the right tracks. It this couldn't be done, what better we can expect from a government?

Do you know why the millions of pensioners covered under EPFO pension feel cheated by the government?

By certain acts of the parliament of India, the EPFO pension scheme got introduced way back in 1995. The act required that the employers (mostly companies in the public sector and private sector in India) contribute some amount every month, equivalent to a small percentage of the concerned employees' monthly salary to form a superannuation pension fund which would be used to provide post retirement monthly pension to the concerned employee. The EPFO was legally entrusted to act as the apex fund and pension management organization. As a mark of social commitment the central government also committed to make a nominal amount with respect of every employee.

The EPFO pension scheme, was a contributory pension scheme.

For nearly 20 years the EPFO was in the process of raising the funds. During this time it hardly paid any pension to anyone. How they did the fund raising in itself was a matter debatable. It was quite arbitrary with the active administrative support of the government from time to time. Neither the employees, nor the employers were informed of the details of the scheme. Employees and employers too were treated differently by arbitrary and unjustified administrative decisions.

An employee became eligible for getting the EPFO pension once they attain the age of 58 as per the EPFO rules. The formula for payment of pension due was made by the EPFO and was never told to the employees nor the employers during the initial 20 years.

The epfo-pension being a contributory pension is an amount that should be proportional to a persons salary and length of service. It is worked out on the basis of EPFO's capacity to pay from the funds so generated. There is no dispute on this.

Based on EPFO's calculations, a person who served more than 20 years and drawn a monthly average salary of Rs.50,000/- at the time of retirement should get a monthly pension of about Rs.12,000/- ( for clarity, I am not going to the details of actual calculations!) The pension should be lower or higher for others with lower or higher actual salaries and length of services.

But due to their own administrative goof up, the EPFO could not collect monthly contributions from several organizations to the extent as payable by the employees' actual salaries. They had set an arbitrary ceiling for the salaries of all employees from time to time starting from Rs.5000/- to the now set limit of something around Rs.15000/-

There is no logic for this. If the scheme is purely contributory, why at all there should be some arbitrary ceiling like this?

Even if it had been done earlier by some reason, what is the harm in asking the concerned employee who wish to avail the pension as per his actual salary to refund the actual payable monthly contribution with all interests? Take that and pay the employee the due pension as per the actual salary? Quite reasonable, isn't it?

Any organisation who thought of their foremost objective of social security would have agreed and did that without any hesitation.

But India's EPFO officialdom refused to do it that way. Remember, they are not covered under this pension scheme. They are the people who take hefty pensions from government's budgetary support. If government does not pay for them, they find the funds from the employees' pension fund they manage!

Remember, a government employee drawing a monthly salary of Rs.50,000/- per month gets a pension of over Rs. 25,000/- initially and the same keep on increasing every year till their death. On the other hand, the EPFO contributory pension payable on actual salary of Rs. 50,000/- per month is only about Rs.12,000/- per month (fixed). And what they now pay is only a maximum of about Rs.2400/- per month (fixed) regardless of what salary the person had at the time of retirement!

This has caused several retired employees to approach the courts in India and finally the Supreme Court of India understood the logic and instructed the EPFO to pay the pensions as per actual salaries. The EPFO is allowed to collect the due contributions in lump sum too.

No doubt the actual calculations for those retired employees in the last couple of years is quite tedious. Yet it is not anything impossible.

For example, as per the EPFO rule, I became an EPFO pensioner in 2014. If EPFO had to pay me pension as per my actual salary, I had to refund about Rs.15,00,000/- and I would become eligible for getting a pension of about Rs.33000/- per month from 2014. Since I got only a pension of about 2300/- per month so far, my pension arrears would be something a bit more than the amount I have to refund (this is just an approximation for clarity)

That simply means, the EPFO can do the calculation adjustments and pay the amounts right away, if they want to help the retirees in their old age.

But the EPFO officialdom does not think it that way. They do not believe in good governance. They do not like to go as per the Supreme Court of India directive.

What they did subsequently was more disgusting and disappointing to both the retirees and those still in employment.

And they dragged the government of India too in their disgraceful acts and set an example to show how to spoil good governance in India.

Now thousands of retired employees have moved the courts and a big fiasco has taken shape or in the making. 

The EPFO officials on their part are doing all they can do to enhance the confusions and the never ending court cases! Perhaps these officials of the government may be laughing heartily at their clever manipulations to bring such an imbroglio.

And pitifully, the political leadership seems unconcerned or clueless to act. Or they simply lack the will and vision to do anything.

If they cannot implement a simple implementable social security system in a time span of 25 years, what do we expect from the political class of India? 

Is our political luminaries capable of doing anything as they speak when not in power? 

Is the officialdom too powerful to bring our political brass to their knees when the latter is in power?

Or is it yet another case of the so called unholy nexus?

What ever it is, I have lost faith in this country's governmental system. If they cannot even do the simplest of the simple things, what they can do after all?