Emergency survivors, pol violence victims to get help

Kolkata: The Bengal govt, in a first, will provide Rs 10,000 per month to those jailed during the Emergency. It also introduced ‘Sangrami Bhata’ for individuals who have faced political persecution.“Rs 10,000 will be provided every month to those who had suffered incarceration during Emergency. Sangrami Bhata will be given to those who have suffered false and frivolous cases due to their political beliefs. Its details will be worked out,” said state finance minister Swapan Dasgupta on Monday.The move to financially support those jailed under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and Defence of India Rules (DIR) during the 1975-1977 Emergency has precedence in multiple states, where the BJP is in office.

Among such states are Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Haryana and Odisha.In several of these states, the payouts are double—Rs 20,000 per month—the amount promised for Bengal. But unlike the Emergency pension, the Sangrami Bhata has a precedence in Bengal. The state had earlier had a long-running, institutionalised scheme, known as the Assistance to Political Sufferers Scheme.

Introduced in the later phase of the Left Front govt, it granted a monthly pension to individuals who were imprisoned for post-Independence political movements.

Crucially, this included a large number of former Naxalite activists and Left political workers. In Jan 2013, the Trinamool govt cancelled the scheme, arguing funds meant for colonial-era freedom fighters were being improperly diverted to individuals jailed for post-Independence political crimes against the state.The matter moved to the Calcutta High Court. In May 2024, an HC division bench upheld the state govt’s 2013 decision to strip post-Independence political activists of these lifetime pensions. The court ruled that individuals participating in post-colonial political or social agitations under political patronage could not be legally equated with colonial-era freedom fighters. The HC, however, ordered an ad hoc humanitarian payout of Rs 5 lakh to the affected heirs to ease the sudden hardship of losing the pension.According to senior officials, Sangrami Bhata will have to navigate legal challenges. “The govt is still working on it. The explicit reference to false cases means that there should be a court order. The details are expected to be announced later,” an official said.