Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications
Thursday, Feb 09, 2006
Financial Daily from THE HINDU group of publications Thursday, Feb 09, 2006 |
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Industry & Economy
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Social Security Farm workers' pension puts strain on Kerala's finances Our Bureau
Thiruvananthapuram , Feb. 8 THE Agricultural Workers' Welfare Fund, from which monthly pension is being paid to indigent farm workers, is facing problems, the Labour Minister, Mr Babu Divakaran, said in the State Assembly on Wednesday. He said this was on account of serious mismatch between revenue and income and the Government's inability to prop up the fund with budgetary support. Responding to a calling attention motion, the Minister said that the Government is finding it difficult to go ahead with the scheme because of a heavy outgo of Rs 80 crore annually as pension and about Rs 15 crore for various other benefits. This year, the Government has already paid out Rs 74 crore as pension. Despite this, it is saddled with pension arrears of 27 months, Rs 65 crore in superannuation benefits, and Rs 10 crore in maternity benefits, the Minister said and added that the Government is trying to pay at least one instalment (three months' pension) before the end of the current financial year. Mr Divakaran said the outlay for the welfare scheme has been going up over the last several years. It has increased from Rs 37 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 80 crore this year. So far, the Government has paid out Rs 269 crore as pension alone since the inception of the scheme, which has a membership of 5.64 lakh. The main revenue for the scheme is the contributions from landowners and till date this year, only Rs 7.5 crore could be collected as contributions, the Minister informed the House. He said that the Government is not in a position to raise the collections as the farm sector is in crisis and the landowners do not agree to any increase in their contributions. Although there is a proposal to increase the contribution from the farm workers, this could be done only through the legislative route. A Bill seeking to enhance this contribution is pending enactment, Mr Divakaran said. The Government has been making efforts to make the payments every month from October, but this is causing heavy strain on its finances, he said.
More Stories on : Social Security | Kerala | Economy
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