For the last few months, Mary Jayashree has been waiting patiently for the arrival of her social security pension. The ₹1,600 a month cannot fully meet the educational expenses of her two daughters, says the homemaker from Nediyamcode, a panchayat ward in south Kerala, but it is still an amount due to her. The delay that has hit welfare pension payments in the State in recent months has affected thousands, and Jayashree, who is eligible for a widow pension, is no exception. She says resignedly, “We can only wait for it to arrive. You can’t simply go there [the pension office] and demand it.”
