RJD chief Lalu Prasad to gets JP Senani Samman Pension

Patna, Jan 11 (IANS) Former Bihar Chief Minister and RJD supremo Lalu Prasad will receive pension of Rs 10,000 per month under the JP Senani Samman Pension Scheme for having served a jail term in the 1970s to oppose the Emergency, an official said on Wednesday.

The much-awaited pension plan for those who participated in a mass movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s to oppose Emergency imposed by then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was announced by the Nitish Kumar-led Bihar governement in 2009.

As per the state government's decision, those who served jail term for more than six months under Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and Defence of India Rule (DIR) during the Emergency from March 18, 1974, to March 21, 1977, would be entitled for a monthly pension of Rs 10,000, while jail term served for less than six months would be entitled for a monthly pension of Rs 5,000.

"Lalu will soon get JP Senani Samman Pension as his application is in final stage for approval for pension after he applied for it. The state home department will give final approval of pension amount to him," an official of the state general administration department said.

Lalu would get pension amount since 2009 as the JP Senani Samman Pension Scheme was launched then.

Jayaprakash Narayan was popularly called JP and he led a movement for 'Total Revolutionn'.

Thousands of youth in the mid-70s joined the JP movement and protested against Congress rule and even served jail terms for it.

Lalu, who was a student leader, had joined the protest and was jailed for more than six months under MISA for opposing Emergency.

Interestingly, Lalu has named his elder daughter Misa Bharti after MISA as he was in jail when she was born. At present, Misa Bharti, a doctor by profession, is a Rajya Sabha MP of the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD).

Nearly 2,500 people are getting monthly pension under JP Senani Samman Pension Scheme in the state now. The state government received a total of over 50,000 pension applications from those who participated in the JP movement.

Leading followers of JP have been calling the shots in Bihar and Indian politics for the past decade. Among them are Nitish Kumar, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, and Union Ministers Ravi Shankar Prasad, Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan.

Initially started in Bihar, the JP movement spread all over India and resulted in the first non-Congress coalition taking office in New Delhi in 1977.