| A bill to replace Soviet perks for the old, sick and needy
with cash
payments has led to the first mass protests since president came to office
Carolynne Wheeler in Moscow
After 40 years working for the Soviet Union's interior ministry, Ina
Ilyina
was naturally suspicious of what democracy would bring. But like most
people, she held on through the turmoil and trusted that better times
were
ahead.
Now, more than 10 years later, with Russia poised to dismantle one of
the
signature schemes of the communist era, she speaks bitterly about her
country's leaders.
Like an estimated 30 million other Russians, she will be affected by
President Vladimir Putin's plans to abandon the former Soviet system of
benefits for the old, sick and needy.
"I trusted (Boris) Yeltsin. That was my mistake. He is an alcoholic,
a
mafiosi, he sold out everything," says Ms Ilyina, 72, whose monthly
pension
of 4,600 roubles (?86) is among the more generous awarded to Russian
retirees.
"It's a burglary of the elderly. They are stealing from the people,
stealing from the dead."
A plan to replace this treasured system of social benefits, which includes
housing subsidies, free public transport, discounts on prescription
medication, free artificial limbs and spa treatment, with a straight cash
payment has sparked weeks of noisy demonstrations, the first since Mr
Putin
took power in 2000.
Many fear the new payments will in no way make up for the loss in benefits
to some of Russia's most vulnerable people, including second world war
veterans.
Nevertheless, the Duma, or lower house of parliament, quickly pushed
the
legislation through both its second and third readings last week. The
Federation Council, or upper house, held a rare Sunday meeting to give
the
bill its stamp of approval. Now all that remains is for Mr Putin to sign
it
into law, a task he is expected to perform by tomorrow.
In a last, desperate attempt to stop him doing so, human rights groups
delivered an 80,000-signature petition to the Kremlin on Monday. They
received no direct response. But the next day Mr Putin appeared on state
television, thanking parliamentarians for their "thorough and well-balanced
consideration in implementing the reforms. This is a very important and
very sensitive package, and I'm pleased that the Federation Council members
have treated it very attentively."
The attitude has disheartened thousands of Russia's pensioners, many
of
whom will struggle under this legislation. For the poorest pensioners,
who
often use the metro or buses to travel around the city to collect and
return empty glass bottles for a few kopecks apiece, even the 10-rouble
(19p) metro fare will quickly eat into any money they might earn.
Under the new system, Ms Illyina will lose her housing benefit. Her
pension
will have to cover a 1,200-rouble rent, 600 roubles a month for medication
to control her diabetes, as well as the costs of public transport and
her
phone service.
In return, as a second-category invalid and a labour veteran, she should
receive an extra 650 roubles a month.
"Of course we are against (the change.) It's so bad. We are in
a bad state
already," says Ekaterina Odintsova, 82, who is living in poverty
after 30
years of cleaning a Moscow children's home. Her 2,400-rouble pension is
now
barely enough for food, on top of the 800 roubles a month she pays as
half-rent and for electricity and the phone on the two-room flat she shares
with her granddaughter.
With both her son and daughter-in-law dead, she is most worried about
having to pay for public transport.
"I use public transport all the time, to buy groceries at the market,"
says
Ms Odintsova, lifting her frail arms to show the two lumpy bags in her
hands, and smiling slightly to show the two remaining, stained teeth behind
her sunken cheeks. Her eyes are weak, but there is no money for glasses,
nor will she visit a doctor for fear of having to pay.
The cash payments under the new system start at 450 roubles a month
for
average pensioners, and run as high as 3,500 roubles a month for those
holding government medals of honour.
The new system's supporters say it is a necessary reform that streamlines
the state budget and equalises benefits, since villagers living far from
Moscow, for instance, cannot make use of free metro travel.
The prime minister, Mikhail Fradkov, told a cabinet meeting that the
move
was "economically substantiated, socially fair and, in our considered
opinion, must improve the lives of Russian citizens".
But in a country where salaries are often paid late, and where inflation
and bank crises have robbed thousands of people of their life savings,
money is simply not trusted.
And none of the amendments has won the hearts of Russia's elderly, who
suffered the devastation of the second world war as well as persecution
at
the hands of the state.
"The procedure of adopting this law has been insulting and disgraceful,"
says Lev Ponomaryov, a Soviet-era dissident who is now head of the For
Human Rights movement.
"This is changing the state's status as a social state. The state
(until)
now guarantees to its people the right to medical care, to education,
to
work. This law cancels the constitutional functions of the government."
With images of police in riot gear ready to hold back white-haired
protesters, many carrying walking sticks or in wheelchairs, and of the
Duma
surrounded by fences and armed soldiers on the day of the vote, the
legislation has not been without political damage. Mr Putin's popularity
took a slight slip in the opinion polls for the first time in years this
summer.
The independent Levada Polling Centre last month put his popularity
at 72%,
the lowest in four years, while the Public Opinion Foundation measured
it
at just below 50% for the first time.
Though the pro-Putin United Russia party still holds an overwhelming
majority, some political watchers believe the fallout from this legislation
will hit President Putin's popularity and make his attempts at future
reforms all the more difficult.
"We'll see it, because now the laws are adopted they'll start to
influence
the life of the people," says Leonid Sedov, a senior analyst with
the
Levada centre.
Still, in a country known for survivors, there is an undercurrent among
pensioners that once again, they will make do.
"What will happen, will happen," says Zoya Kuzmina, 77. "I
will be receiving the same as everyone else."
------- Social aid What they will lose
An estimated 30 million pensioners, war veterans and disabled people,
as
well as those who have given distinguished service to the country, stand
to
lose:
* Free transport passes on both city and regional transport networks
* Free medicines and free artificial limbs
* Half-rent and subsidised telephone service and electricity
* Annual spa treatment and transport to and from the medical centre
The cash payments which replace these will come into effect on January
1.
Disabled second world war veterans will receive an extra1,550 roubles
(?29)
a month; survivors of the siege of Leningrad will get an extra 650, and
adults with disabilities an extra 50 roubles
See also:
Social
Policies
| 