By IANS,
Patna : A much awaited pension plan for those who participated in a mass movement led by Jayaprakash Narayan in the 1970s was announced by the Bihar government Friday.
“It has been formally decided by the state government to provide pension to activists of the JP movement,” Nitish Kumar said here. Jayaprakash Narayan was popularly called JP.
This is good news for hundreds of activists of the JP movement who protested against Congress rule and even served jail terms for it. They will be entitled to a monthly pension ranging from Rs.2,500 to Rs.5,000.
The state government received a total of 58,000 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, Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi, former Bihar chief minister Lalu Prasad and former central minister Ram Vilas Paswan.
Beginning in Bihar, the JP movement spread all over India and resulted in the first non-Congress coalition taking office in New Delhi in 1977.