In an unusual occurrence, a bureaucrat turned down a minister's proposal and forced the entire Cabinet on Thursday to accept her recommendations.
A proposal to provide pension to widows and persons with severe and multiple disabilities belonging to families below the poverty line was mooted by Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh. The original proposal was that the pension would be for life, irrespective of age. When the agenda came up for discussion, Expenditure Secretary Sushma Nath objected strongly to it.
According to insiders, Nath argued that if there was no age cap, it would become "open ended" and "send the wrong message" to society. Even as the minister strongly supported the original proposal of providing Rs 200 per month to all BPL widows with matching state assistance, Nath continued to object the proposal.
Singh came out with a list of states that have already implemented such schemes. He said that Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Bihar were providing pension for widows with no upper limit to age. But Nath stood firm. Her argument: "Why should the government give pension to young widows? The government should try to provide employment opportunities, and skill development assistance to them instead of making them dependent on pensions."
While the two argued over the proposal, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee didn't say a word, effectively allowing his ministry representative to register her point.
According to the insiders, no other ministers came out in direct support of Singh. In between, Steel and Chemicals & Fertiliser Minister Ramvilas Paswan proposed a middle path: "Let the local panchayat committees take a decision on the issue of age cap keeping in mind the requirement of their respective areas."
As soon as Paswan mooted this proposal, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad objected and warned against leaving matters in the hand of the panchayats. "They may complicate matters," Prasad said.
Finally, the Cabinet conceded Nath had a point and adopted the revised plan. The central government will provide pension at the rate of Rs 200 per month for widows between 40 and 64 years, under a scheme, to be named Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme. The government also decided on Thursday to give similar pension to people with severe and multiple disabilities between 18 and 64 years, under the scheme. This expansion will cost Rs 1,691 crore (Rs 16.91 billion) for the entire year and is expected to benefit over four million people.
BPL persons who are 65 years or higher, estimated to be 15.7 million, have already been covered under the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme from November 19, 2007.
When the revised proposal was getting passed, Social Justice Minister Meira Kumar, sitting next to Raghuvansh Prasad Singh, demanded that the government should also provide monetary assistance to the children of such widows. A furious Singh interjected, "All widows are not going to get benefits and you are thinking about their children!"
