Madhya Pradesh government today decided to dole out more to the special column in pensioners fraternity -- people arrested under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (Misa) and those who had compromised with the Defence of India Rules (DIR), during the 1975 Emergency period.
Even more to those who were put behind bars during the period but have no record will be entertained at minimum Rs 10,000 per month provided they produce an affidavit from two other fellow MISA detainees.
“The monthly pension also known as ‘Loknayak Jai Prakash Narayan Samman Nidhi today has been raised from Rs 3,000 to Rs 10,000 per month for detainee, who had spent less than six months in jail and Rs 15,000 from Rs 6,000 a month for those above six months,” said Narottam Mishra, government spokesperson and Parliament Affairs Minister. Only those persons, who served imprisonment for more than three months and did not ask for clemency, would be entitled for the monthly pension.
The minister, however, does not have the exact figure of the persons who were booked under the MISA.
According to a senior official in home department, however, there must be 4,000 MISA detainees in undivided Madhya Pradesh, of which Chhattisgarh was a part before November 2000. Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh had already launched a similar scheme few years ago.
Interestingly, MISA’s father Lalu Prasad Yadav does not receive such pension who named her daughter after his arrest under MISA since he belongs to a different state.
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The state finance minister Raghavji and Babulal Gaur are also beneficiaries.
Narottam Mishra did not have the correct figure on how much government would shell out from the state exchequer but a rough estimate from an official says, “It would be now Rs 6-7 crore.”