It was January 2. Chief Minister Dr. Himanta Biswa Sarma took to his Twitter handle at around 7.55pm and typed his thought that had been occupying his mind for a long time. He urged the Government of Assam employees as well as MLAs and ministers of his Cabinet to spend quality time with their parents or in-laws on specific dates and therefore offered them two days of special leave. This was something unprecedented in the history of governance of any State.
The Chief Minister wanted these employees to uphold the ancient Indian value of seeking blessing from parents while rededicating themselves in building a new Assam and a new India.
The announcement immediately raised the emotional quotient of the Chief Minister, who is normally considered a hard task master and a no-nonsense man. Hundreds of thousands of employees welcomed the idea with folded hands.
Media reports in the aftermath of the announcement and on those days when the employees had availed of leave had left many teary-eyed and many others feeling blessed.
The aim of Matri Pitri Vandana initiative has been to acknowledge the elderly parents for having moulded the current generations of officials, MLAs and Ministers, the CM had tweeted.
This, however, is not the only act that has emanated from his thinking cap. He had earlier singularly conceptualised and put into effect PRANAM Act which makes State Government employees responsible towards their parents or divyang sibling. In case it does not happen, the Act specified that a portion of their salary could be deducted and given to the needy parents and divyang sibling for their upkeep.
It is this Act that has made life bearable for the likes of Hiron Bora. On November 14, 2020, the world turned upside down for Hiron & her family in Niz Pathori, Nagaon. With the death of her only son, Chandan Bora, who was serving as a Lower Divisional Assistant in Maz Pathori High School, Nagaon, the family seemed to be at its wits end.
That was only the start of what was to follow. Shortly after their son’s death, their daughter-in-law, an assistant teacher in the same school, left for her paternal home at Dimoruguri, Nagaon with all service-related documents of their deceased son while leaving them to fend for themselves.
Hiron later learnt that their daughter-in-law had completed formalities to avail relevant benefits along with the family pension. It was then that someone in the school told her about the PRANAM Act 2019. She approached the school Principal, who is also the Drawing and Disbursing Officer of the institution, and therefore competent authority under the Act, seeking justice.
A brainchild of the Chief Minister of Assam, PRANAM Act 2019 is an important tool to financially empower the elderly and divyang who do not have any source of income. PRANAM being an acronym for Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring.
Dr. Sarma, after the passing of the bill into an Act, had told the media, “We are very proud that Assam is the first State in the country to implement the PRANAM Act, which is an effort to protect elderly parents and divyang siblings of Government employees in their times of need.”
Under the Act, if the PRANAM Commission gets notified that parents or divyang siblings of a State Government employee is being ignored, then 10 per cent (and in exceptional cases upto 15 per cent) of the employee’s salary will be deducted by the Government and paid to the parents or divyang siblings. If a Government employee dies before retirement, his/ her dependent and financially neglected parents and divyang siblings can claim 10 per cent (and in exceptional cases upto 15 per cent) from the compassionate pension received by spouse/legal heir. The Act has been enacted to potentially benefit parents and divyang siblings of four lakh employees, including State PSUs, of the Government of Assam.
Hiron put forward her case to the Headmaster of Maz Pathori High School, Nagaon from where a hearing was conducted at the office of Inspector of Schools (Nagaon District Circle) on February 3, 2022. The DDO ruled that 15 per cent of the monthly gross compassionate family pension received by the wife of the deceased with effect from November 15, 2020 be provided to the parents of the deceased for their support and upkeep.
Hiron Bora is one among many across Assam whose lives have been touched and made better by the Act. Nirada Das of Pandu, Guwahati, ignored by her son Bishnu Das, a Senior Assistant (Accounts) at Dolong Ghat Development Block in Nagaon, is another beneficiary. Nirada now receives 10 per cent or Rs 7,000 of her son’s monthly salary for sustenance.
Similarly, Sagarika Deka from Puthimari, Rangia gets Rs 3,000 as monthly maintenance from her son Suresh Kamal Deka, an employee in the Department of Fisheries. Officials in the Commission feel that with increasing awareness, there will be more individuals who will come forward to claim rightfully what is due to them.
“Pranam Commission has been organising awareness programme on the Act in various districts. It is a matter of satisfaction that the Act has given relief to many financially neglected old parents in their utmost needy hour. We are now finding a steady increase in the number of complaint petitions filed by the parents”, Chief Commissioner, Pranam Commission VB Pyarelal told Asom Barta.
