A new research study conducted in Karnataka has found the current eligibility criterion of taking household income for sanctioning of social security pensions to be inappropriate and recommended the South African model which takes into account only the earnings of the beneficiary and spouse.
The research found that a considerable number of pensioners -- whether it's destitute widow or physically handicapped or old age -- may not have access to or any say over the household income as a whole, as they live in a different family -- such as that of a father or brother or sister or in-laws -- for security and moral support.
In addition, the indebtedness of the household, the source and purpose of debt would have a bearing on household income, which cannot be viewed in isolation, the study noted.
The study suggested that one alternative in mobilising resources for extending social security to all the unorganised workers is to impose social security cess of 5 per cent on income tax, just like education cess.
The research was carried by D Rajasekhar, G Sreedhar, N L Narasimha Reddy, R R Biradar and R Manjula of the Centre for Decentralisation and Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change, a Bangalore-based think-tank.
Titled 'Delivery of Social Security and Pension Benefits in Karnataka', the study was commissioned by Karnataka government's Directorate of Social Security and Pensions, under the Department of Revenue.
They said: "It appears that the current eligibility criterion based on annual income of the household cannot be considered as appropriate for deciding the eligibility of beneficiaries for sanctioning social security pensions."
The researchers recommended the model followed in South Africa, where the income of the beneficiary and his/her spouse alone are taken into account for determining the eligibility for sanction of social pension benefit.
The study conducted in the districts of Bellary, Chitradurga and Gulbarga recently with the sample drawn from two towns/cities and 12 villages from two talukas of each sample district, supported the desirability of extending social security pensions to all unorganised workers.
The research focused on current mechanisms on delivery of social security and pension benefits, identifying delivery failures in their implementation and impact of such schemes on the beneficiaries in Karnataka, where lakhs of elderly, widows and disabled receive such pensions.
The study found that the time taken for the release of pension from the treasury to the beneficiary ranges between 30 days to two months. This was due to a variety of reasons and procedural problems such as the postman being allowed to carry only Rs 20,000 a day due to security reasons and contributed to the delay which should be avoided.
The researchers said the targeting of the social security and pension benefits appears to be in the right direction, as indicated by the large-scale coverage of weaker sections including women.
But there were areas of concern too. About 80 per cent of the pensioners make unauthorised payments to the postman, ranging from two per cent to six per cent of the pension amount.
While about half of them pay to the postman voluntarily, the postman demands the money in the sense that he deducts the amount before paying the pension in the case of the rest.
