Pensioners toddle forth from hibernation

“Go ye forth and be seeneth as alive in flesh and blood, however fraileth and disabled thou art, and be counted for annual payment of pensions!” So decrees the government to its pensioners come January of a year. Obviously, I couched the order in Biblical terms; the government officially informs pensioners to prove they are alive by actually showing themselves. This in Swabasha as pertinent to the different districts; the form sent being in Tamil and Sinhala. Faithful to SWRDB’s devastating, separating dictum of Sinhala Only with a slight compensation to Tamil. Badi-ud-Din Mahmud, was the winner; May Allah be praised! He made it possible for Muslims to study in the English medium.

I ramble on this lazy Sunday morning, satisfied my pension is safe for another 12 months after I presented myself – no spirit or ghost or substitute – but me Nan, not once but twice at the Grama Sevaka’s office. It is a mercy they are now not elusive but are stationed in respectable offices. When this order of showing oneself was first mooted I went to a big burly bully in his office in the Polwatte Temple hidden down labyrinthine lanes in Colombo 3, the landmark to locate the temple being the Gal Palliya! He was, I found, erratic in his appearance in office. Then the office moved to near Skelton Road and was staffed with three persons, one being a super efficient, polite woman officer. This year the office was discovered to be down Park Road. I went on a Monday to be told by a very brusque female officer: “Bambalapitiya ekkana ada ne!” I then found a notice giving days and times when the relevant officer would be in office.

Trundled along the next day in my three wheeled chariot. Went into a crowd: some in groups, others in several queues, a fair number gathered to prove standing and staring was gainful. I stood in the Bambalapitiya/Kollupitiya queue (board in English) and kept my distance from the woman in front. But here’s the rub – a youngish man behind me, apparently unaware of imperative distancing, breathed down my shoulder!

About twenty minutes later a woman called for Kollupitiya folk. I scrambled forth. I must add the queue was composed of very decent people, the most decent being at the head. I was told by the officer who was at the door – a young woman in a smart red dress – my Lane was in the Bambalapitiya division and not Kollupitiya. She closed the door. I mumbled to the man at the head of the queue I just could not go back; he murmured no protest. Thank goodness! One must remember that most collected there were public servants of yesteryear when politics and corruption hardly invaded offices and never schools; those days of polite service.

The door opened and I shot in with another. Maybe I was ashamed of breaking the queue but my grey hair and femaleness excused my behaviour; at least to me!

The Grama Sevaka was that young woman in the red dress; fine, quick, efficient and spoke with a human voice. I asked her about mandatory period of this showing oneself by pensioners. It lasted till March, which I was unaware of. Those who could not arrive even on crutches? She said they need to return the form duly filled and she would visit homes.

What is the result of defaulting in showing up at the Grama Sevaka or making known the necessity he/she should visit a house-bound pensioner? Stoppage of payment of monthly pension. Resurrection seems a much more tedious business than the first incarnation.

Most pensions are meagre, extra thus if one retired after 20 years of service, that being the minimum years of service to be pension-eligible, along time ago. This talk invariably brings on the derisive snort: Oh those ranting MPs, some even silent and most often absent from the august House get a fine pension after only five years’ service. Unfair, almost criminal, because by then many of them are millionaires; not through winning a TV knowledge contest, nor by real good service rendered, but You-Know-How. Yes, our pensions may not even cover our regular monthly bills but they come regularly to us and we are appreciative of this fact; as we are to Dr Rajitha Senaratne and the yahapalanaya government that drastically reduced price of medicines and thus our monthly expense to keep our selves going and able to wobble along to see the Grama Sevaka once a year!!

Comments

Some pensioners complain of anomalies in what they are paid. The removal of these is left to the government. Many letters to editors of newspapers have pensioners crying for increase in payments made. Yes, because never is a raise given to keep abreast of rising COLs. But in these dire times of country economic tribulation, we oldies should not ask for raises in pensions.

Government pensions are of different types. I refer here to the pension granted a government officer after retirement from service at 55 years of age, now raised to 60 for men. We hardly remember the fact that this monthly payment is solely from the government, without our having contributed for Widows and Orphans benefits on a monthly basis while we were in service; from the time one retired to the time one dies. And thus gratitude we should feel and not keep pestering for more.

Which brings me on to the call to trundle along to a Grama Sevaka however rickety one’s legs are; however arthritic knees are. The government is not masochistic. We, the people, ourselves have brought on this annual torturous showing of selves. Once a pensioner dies this fact must be notified to the department. Not done sometimes; cheating being in the blood.

I Googled and read much on Sri Lankan government pensions including a report that noted that 9.6 million are estimated to be eligible for pension payments; 50% of eligibles are current enrollers and only 30% or the elderly benefit from this safety net. Also that 1.4% of GDP goes towards pension schemes. Sobering thought.

I could not trace a date for first pension payment, nor the history of payment of government pensions in this fair isle. I assume it was bequeathed by the British colonial rulers. It is a well known fact that in the times of our grandparents and parents in the final and post colonial years, a man’s eligibility in marriage rose if he was a government ‘servant’. Mercantile employment though better paying was second rate. Planting on sterling company estates was a job Kandy boys took to but much preferred was half-that-amount-paying government employment.

UK and US retirement payments

A friend who is a lucky sterling pensioner gets much, much more than I get though both were in the same honourable profession. The monthly amount in pounds sterling is usually paid into a local bank for those who were professionals in the UK but are resident here. Those over there have monthly adjustments made to keep alongside varying COLs. Also the government is more trusting. The pensioner must send an affidavit signed by a respected person: JP, professional etc to testify the pensioner is alive.

The situ in the US of A is complicated with Obama having tried hard to benefit the poorer and older. The need for retirement payment was felt after the early 20th century depression. Many schemes prevail but major point is that when you stop working after a minimum period, monthly contributed-for social security is made available to you.

I came across this saying: “Being born poor is fate; dying poor is a choice.” So true! And here I bring in a comparison: the industrious ant and the hedonistic grasshopper. Did the ant help the grasshopper as he shivered and starved in winter? No. Only a rubbing in of ‘go on singing!’ But we who were unwise grasshoppers then have at least a pittance from the government of Sri Lanka when unable to sing and dance!!