AS a senior citizen dependent solely on Employees’ Old-Age Benefit Institution (EOBI) pension, I tuned in to the budget speech waiting for an announcement about a raise in EOBI pension amount, which, to my utter disappointment, did not come. EOBI is not a charity like other welfare schemes. It is primarily financed with a contribution made jointly by the employer and the employee during one’s service tenure.

While the salaries of parliamentarians, ministers and judges were enormously increased last year, EOBI pensioners were only given a meagre raise of Rs1,500 per month, bringing it to the grand total of Rs11,500 per month. This is not enough even to have the luxury of two meals every day of the month.

The minimum wage of employees has been increased to Rs40,700 and the Benazir Income Support Programme has received a 17 per cent increase in allocations. Keeping in view the plight of the small community of EOBI pensioners, the amount of pension should be brought at par with the minimum wage fixed by the government.

Malik ul Quddoos
Karachi

Published in Dawn, July 19th, 2026