A RECENT picture in this newspaper shows an elderly woman pensioner being helped out of the bank by her son and grandson. Frail, and in obvious discomfort, she had just been told to come another day to collect her pension. The image may be worth a thousand words and more, but the indications are that, yet again, such telling signs have been ignored by those who can help these senior citizens by introducing a respectable method whereby they can receive the monthly allowance they are entitled to. We have written previously on the subject, but comments and news items pointing to their lot have failed to have any kind of an impact. Pensioners in the country do get much sympathy — especially during the first few days of the month when they are seen lining up outside banks to receive their dues. But what they and their more conscientious backers from among the well-meaning have been unable to get is official notice and consequent steps towards relief.

What more prompting does a government need than a senior citizen telling a reporter to not bother with his lost cause? Another explains the link between his appearance and the pension that he is so grudgingly provided after a painful, prolonged process every month: he is forced to come in person — at least once every three months — to prove he is still alive. That is quite a remarkable standard to maintain. The attitude towards senior citizens is generally insulting and is one that makes them feel as if they are unwanted by society and the state. That is a terrible feeling and the remedy requires much more than the improvement of facilities at banks that at the moment so begrudgingly give pensioners their entitlement. There has to be a campaign led by the government aimed at restoring to the elderly the respect which was thought to be their due before they were made to suffer the ignominy of standing, waiting for ‘favours’, in these ‘dole-out’ queues.

Published in Dawn ,July 13th, 2015

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