Senior citizens protest against pension scheme

Demanding restructuring of the current pension scheme, several elderly men and women led by rights activist Aruna Roy today staged a protest outside Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's official residence here.
The demonstrators, who came from Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka under the banner of Pension Parishad gathered at PM's 7, Race Course Road residence at around 2:30 pm and staged a demonstration.
The protesters claimed they had to come to the PM's residence as even after several assurances by Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh and other leaders, nothing has been done so far to restructure the existing pension scheme despite rising inflation and poverty.

"The demonstrators were detained and taken to Parliament Street police station from where they were released after sometime," said a police official.
The elderly have been protesting at the Jantar Mantar here since November 27 demanding the government immediately introduce universal and non-contributory old age pension system with a minimum dignified monthly pension amount.