Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Feb 19: The state of emergency had been clamped in India when Indira Gandhi was the Prime Minister. The emergency was in force from June 26, 1975 to January 18, 1977. Scores of people, particularly belonging to or supporting political outfits which were critical of Indira Gandhi's policies had been jailed during this period.

Lokatantra Senani Sangha has been working at the national level to get this pension sanctioned. A delegation of the Sangha recently met chief minister B S Yediyurappa, seeking to grant pension to those who faced emergency excesses. The chief minister told them that he would like to first provide compensation to people affected by floods and then look into this proposal. As the BJP had said in its manifesto that it would sanction this pension if voted to power, the chief minister is likely to make budgetary provision for the same.

As per a list prepared, Udupi has 20 such persons and Dakshina Kannada has 154. The state as a whole has about 4,500 activists eligible for this pension. More names may be added in the coming days, as preparation of the list is very difficult at a stretch as it has been 43 years since the state of emergency was declared.

Sangha's state president, Manjunath Swamy, says that there are 300 eligible persons from Vijayapura district, 400 from Bagalkot district, and 120 from Doddaballapur taluk. Out of about 10,000 who went to jail from the state during emergency, more than half have died. Many have shifted residences. Some have told the Samiti that they do not need pension as they fought against injustice and falsehood and not for monetary benefit.

Such a pension is already in vogue in Uttar Pradesh where Mulayam Singh Yadav initiated the pension scheme when he was the chief minister. Similar pension is also being paid by states like Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Uttaranchal and Maharashtra. The pension amount ranges from Rs 10,000 to 25,000 in most of the states, but it has been pegged to Rs 5,000 in Jharkhand. In Kerala, there is a proposal where there is likely to be a provision to pay pension to the spouse of the activist if he or she is no more.