The govt has been criticized for using the card of social security allowance as a populist program to influence voters in its favor
KATHMANDU, May 29: Amid growing criticism that the state will face additional financial burden due to the uncalled-for flexibility in social security allowances, the government has lowered the minimum age limit to receive old-age allowance to 68 years from the existing 70 years. It will come into effect from the next fiscal year that will start from mid-July.
At present, people aged 70 years and above; those aged 60 and above from the Karnali region and Dalit communities; helpless widows and single women; people with disabilities; people from endangered communities and children from some specific regions and communities are entitled to social security allowances.
‘Old-age allowance is UML’s concept; it doesn't matter who lowe...
Last year, the government increased the monthly allowance for senior citizens to Rs 4,000 from Rs 3,000 per month. As a result, the budgetary allocation in 2021/22 had jumped to over Rs 100 billion, an additional Rs 23 billion than the previous year, for the purpose of social security allowances.
With the revised age limit for old-age allowance, the government is likely to face an additional financial burden of Rs 25-30 billion annually. According to economist Dilli Raj Khanal, the criteria of universal benefits being provided to elderly people is not appropriate as it is causing an unnecessary financial burden to the state mechanism.
The senior citizen allowance scheme was for the first time introduced by the then finance minister Bharat Mohan Adhikari in 1994-95 starting with Rs 100 for people aged over 75. The allowance sum remained the same for eight years. It was during Adhikari’s second tenure as a finance minister in 2004-05 that the allowance was raised to Rs 175.
The allowance sum was later increased to Rs 500 during Baburam Bhattarai’s tenure as the finance minister in 2008. The sum was doubled to Rs 1,000 by the Nepali Congress (NC)-led government in 2014 when Ram Sharan Mahat was the finance minister.
Later on in 2015, the then finance minister Bishnu Paudel of the erstwhile CPN-UML government again doubled the senior citizen allowance to Rs 2,000.
