Ranjit K. Jain
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Thiruvananthapuram:

A detailed inspection done over the way the Kerala government’s monthly Rs 1,600 social welfare pension is being distributed has revealed that the amount is also being taken by at least 1,458 serving government officials including Gazetted officers.

According to estimates, a sum of Rs 23 lakh has been used to pay even the serving government officials.

These shocking details surfaced when the Finance Department asked for an inspection to look into this and on perusal it has surfaced that serving government officials are among those who are currently getting the Rs 1,600 monthly social welfare pension which should ideally go to the needy, down-trodden and the under-privileged.

Among those who are currently getting the pension include school and college teachers, employees working in the health and other departments of the state government .

After learning about the blatant violation of the rules, Kerala Finance Minister K.N. Balagopal called for strict action into the matter, and also recommended recovery of the amount with interest. He has also ordered disciplinary action against the wrong-doers.

In Kerala, there are around six million (60 lakh) people who get a monthly social welfare pension and at times it goes into arrears too, since the state government exchequer is currently in dire straits.

B. Alwyn Prakash, former chairman of the State Finance Commission, said that the need of the hour is a fool-proof audit of the entire social welfare pension.

CPI-M state secretary M.V. Govindan said “now that this has come out, let further action start as there are chances of government officials doing such things”.

Meanwhile, sources aware of the development said that the process of verification will continue to ensure that all the ineligible beneficiaries are identified and removed from the beneficiary list.

The Finance Department, over the years, has put in a process to filter the ineligible beneficiaries so that the amount is sent to the ones who fit into the criteria.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

A woman in Taiwan has been accused of hiding her dead father’s body in her home for years to claim his military pension. According to the South China Morning Post, the woman, whose identity has not been revealed, lived with her father for over five decades. 

The authorities first got suspicious last November when health officials were denied entry to her home for dengue-prevention measures. As a result, she was fined NT$60,000 (approximately Rs 1.50 lakh) 

Her constant refusal to allow government officials into her home raised concerns and prompted police involvement. When officers interrogated the woman regarding her father’s whereabouts, she initially claimed he was at a nursing home

When police pressed her further, she changed her story, claiming her brother had taken him to the mainland from their city Kaohsiung. Cops investigated her claim and discovered that the brother had been dead for 50 years, and there was no record that the woman’s father had left Taiwan.

The woman then lied again, saying that her father had died on the mainland and, but could not produce his death certificate. 

The changing narratives led to the police searching her property and found a black plastic garbage bag containing the bones of an elderly person.

Upon investigation, police found that the man had been dead for a long time. A forensic expert explained that a body typically takes one to two years for a body to decompose into skeletal remains.

Notably, the woman’s father had been a military veteran who served for more than 20 years and received a monthly pension according to his rank and service history. Taiwanese military veterans typically receive an average monthly pension of NT$49,379 (approximately Rs 1.27 lakh).

The investigation into the cause of the man’s death is ongoing and authorities will determine whether the woman committed a serious crime beyond just hiding her father’s body.

Under Taiwanese law, damaging, abandoning, insulting, or stealing a corpse can carry serious penalties, including imprisonment for up to five years. If such a crime involves a direct relative or close family member, the sentence may be increased by 1.5 times.

Meanwhile, the woman is currently undergoing medical treatment while under police supervision.