As Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman prepares to present Budget 2024, anticipation surrounds the potential restoration of the Senior Citizen Railway Concession by the government before the upcoming general elections later this year.
What is the senior citizen railway concession?
The Senior Citizen Railway Concession previously granted concessions to senior citizens across all classes of Mail, Express, Duranto, Shatabdi, Jan Shatabdi, and Rajdhani trains, offering a 40% concession for men and a 50% concession for women with minimum age criteria of 60 and 58 years, respectively.
Initially suspended on March 20, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the concession has yet to be reinstated by the Union Railway Ministry. During the period of suspension, the railways generated a total revenue of ₹5,062 crore from eight crore senior citizens, with ₹2,242 crore attributed to the absence of concessions. Among the senior citizens, 4.6 crore were male, 3.3 crore were female, and around 18,000 were transgender.
The Covid-19 impact
Between 2020 and 2022, the Railways accumulated ₹3,464 crore from senior citizens, and it is estimated that an additional ₹1,500 crore would have been earned had the concessions been in place. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the suspension of train operations for most of 2020 and parts of 2021, also resulted in the temporary halt of concessions for senior citizens by the Railway Ministry.
In December 2023, Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw highlighted that the Railways provided a substantial subsidy of ₹59,837 crore on passenger tickets in 2019-20 to cater to all segments of society, amounting to an average concession of 53% for every railway traveller. Vaishnaw emphasized that this subsidy continues for all passengers, with additional concessions granted for various categories, including four categories of persons with disabilities (Divyangjans), 11 categories of patients, and eight categories of students.
While there have been persistent calls to reinstate senior citizen railway concessions, Vaishnaw, in 2022, informed Parliament that such reinstatement would impose a financial burden on the government.
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