The Opposition UDF could not have brought up a more politically pertinent issue in the Kerala Assembly the day after the CPM State Conference, in which Pinarayi Vijayan proposed a radical neoliberal shift in CPM’s thinking, ended in Kollam.
On Monday, March 10, Congress MLA M Vincent moved an adjournment motion on the mounting pension dues of social welfare fund boards, loaded with the implicit question: “Where does the poor and the underprivileged figure in the CPM’s eagerness to find more internal resources and lure private capital?”
Vincent began sarcastically, calling the CPM the “former party of the working class”. “Can you forget the beedi workers as easily as thoughtlessly as throwing away a spent beedi,” Vincent said. “After failing to pay cashew workers their benefits for months, most of whom are in Kollam, how could you conduct the CPM State Conference in the district without being wracked by guilt,” he said.
The UDF charge was that more than half the 31 welfare board funds in Kerala were nearly dysfunctional, unable to pay benefits like pension and other benefits like marriage, delivery and death-related assistance for five to 17 months.
Finance minister K N Balagopal, who responded to the motion in the absence of labour minister V Sivankutty, called Vincent’s charges baseless, and a political stunt. “We have already admitted on the floor of the House that social welfare payments for five months had been pending. We had promised to pay the arrears in five installments. Two installments have already been paid. The remaining three, we had told the House, would be paid in as many installments during the next fiscal (2025-26),” Balagopal said.
Nonetheless, he conceded that there was a problem with Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Fund Board. He said certain practical difficulties in collecting building cess had indeed caused some delay. The minister said the collection had been handed over to the Local Self Government Department from April 2024, and since November last cesses were being collected online. “Now the disbursal of pensions have begun,” the minister said.
Opposition Leader V D Satheesan said it was unfortunate that the finance minister had regarded the subsistence issue of over one crore workers in such a callous fashion. “Pension arrears alone have mounted to over Rs 2200 crore. Nearly half the 31 boards are on the verge of closure, threatening to affect the lives of 35-40 lakh workers,” Satheesan said.
He said the minister just glossed over the problems of the Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Fund Board. “Pension arrears have swelled to Rs 1392 crore, it has not been paid for the last 14 months. Those still working have not received their entitled financial support for marriage, delivery, hospitalisation and accidental death for the last 14 months. Over 5 lakh applications are pending in the Board,” the Opposition Leader said.
He said the Agriculture Workers Welfare Fund Board had run up arrears of nearly Rs 5 crore. “It has been three years since those above 60 years have received pension,” he said. Anganwadi workers who had retired in 2023 have not received pension for four months. “Those who had retired in 2024 had not received pension for 10 months, meaning they have not received pension till now,” Satheesan said.
This was not all. Cashew workers have not been paid gratuity for three years. In the case of Headload Workers’ Welfare Fund Board, Satheesan said it had not received any funds from the Budget since 2022-23 even though small amounts were allocated. “And in 2024-25, forget even a token amount, not a single rupee was allocated for the Board in the Budget,” Satheesan said.
Then, Satheesan hurled the rhetorical question at the ruling side: “What’s your priority?” He said that administrative costs of welfare fund boards should not cross 5% of the total corpus but the reality was that costs were spiralling out of control.
Backdoor appointments are being done on a big scale, Satheesan said. “Why do you need so many white elephants. Why can’t you consolidate all these boards into four or five, streamline their functioning, and cut costs. Why can’t you even try,” the Opposition Leader said.