‘Move to stop doorstep pension distribution is first step in UDF’s agenda to scrap scheme’

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Pinarayi Vijayan has come out against the government’s move to stop doorstep delivery of social security pensions to all beneficiaries except bedridden patients. He said the UDF government’s attempt to disrupt Kerala’s pension distribution system, which has become a model for the country, cannot be accepted. He also alleged that the move to discontinue doorstep pension distribution through cooperative societies is the first step in the UDF’s agenda to gradually end the pension scheme itself, he said in a Facebook post.

Kerala’s social welfare pension distribution system, which has become a model for the country, cannot be allowed to be undermined by the UDF government. The government is preparing to dismantle a people-friendly pension distribution system that directly delivers pension amounts into the hands of the poor through a new order. For the past ten years, except for those who voluntarily opted for Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), nearly half of the social security pension beneficiaries have been receiving their pension at their doorstep without having to visit banks. This is the system that the UDF government is now attempting to weaken.

According to the government’s latest order, pension distribution to all beneficiaries other than bedridden patients will be made exclusively through DBT to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. The move to discontinue doorstep pension distribution through cooperative societies is the first step in the UDF agenda to gradually bring an end to the pension scheme itself.

Those who receive doorstep pensions instead of DBT largely remain outside the formal banking service network. The overwhelming majority of them belong to economically weaker sections and face health-related difficulties. The new order will be a major setback for people who require social support and care.

It is clear that the new order of the UDF government reflects a distorted right-wing policy that views social security pensions not as a right, but as a government handout.