It is relatively easier to survive post-retirement, feels O.K. Mohandass Nair, a 66-year-old engineer and ex-IITian who lives with his wife, Nalini, in South Delhi’s Alaknanda. “Your transportation costs come down and most importantly you don’t have to entertain friends and spend on liquor. For one, all my friends are too old to drink,” he laughs.
In the over two-hour-long budget speech given by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitely, only one point directly affected Mr. and Ms. Nair: the tax exemption limit that has been raised by Rs 50,000 for senior citizens to Rs 3 lakh. “This budget does not feel very taxing,” notes Ms. Nair (62), “and we are exempt from filing returns.”
The couple feel there has been an erosion of purchasing power over the years. “The government is giving the impression that it would like to change things but we will have to wait and see if this translates to anything,” says Mr. Nair. “The government seems to have ambitious plans to retrieve the black money stashed abroad without that we just cannot have a proper economic system.”
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This week, they closely watched the Rail Budget as well, and were happy to note there were no changes in the concessions granted to senior citizens. “We travel to Kerala often. While earlier the journey used to be by air, now that we have more time we take the train,” he says.
Since 1986, Mr. and Ms. Nair, have lived in their Delhi Development Authority flat except for brief stints in Oman and Iraq where they relocated for work.
They own a car for which they pay maintenance charges every quarter, health costs are covered by an insurance policy that is paid for annually and they spend up to Rs. 10,000 on groceries and food which largely consists of fruits, says Ms. Nair. “The rich-Punjabi food no longer suits us so we avoid eating out,” she says. As for healthcare: “We visit private facilities for our health needs but it is shocking to find that we are asked what our insurance limit is before they treat us,” she says.
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Their 28-year-old daughter, Ramya, works as a neuroscientist in Switzerland and has covered her education through scholarships. “We have lived quite independently, so far. My daughter has managed to fund her education through scholarships and now she is employed. Perhaps, if we had had more than one child we might have found it tougher,” she says.
Mr. Nair attended IIT, Madras in the early 1960s when the annual tuition fees used to be Rs. 180, monthly hostel charges Rs. 15 and Rs. 90 to eat in the canteen very month.
He scoffs at Thursday’s announcement that the government is keen on setting up five more IITs. “They are unable to manage the faculty adequately in the existing IITs since they do not have enough teachers. People are just not keen on working here when they get paid much better abroad. If a professor draws Rs. 80,000 per annum here, in the Sultanate of Oman you can earn up to Rs. 4 lakh per month apart from accommodation, medical bills and transportation taken care of,” he says.