A little over two years ago, precisely on March 19, 2020, the Ministry of Railways issued a circular withdrawing train ticket concession for various categories of people, including senior citizens. This was to prevent non-essential travel. While most of the pandemic-related restrictions have eased, the concessions are yet to be restored. Our analysis of RTI data revealed that between March 2020 and September 2022, the railways have only saved around ₹2560.9 crore by withdrawing concessions for senior citizens.
An RTI filed by Madhya Pradesh-based activist, Chandra Shekhar Gaur, said that between March 2020 and September 2022, the railways earned ₹5808.85 crore by selling tickets to senior citizens. Women passengers who have completed 58 years of age are allowed a 50 per cent concession in fare, while men are allowed a concession of 40 per cent, if they have completed 60 years of age, in all classes of trains, except Garib Rath and certain other trains like Gatiman Express, Suvidha, and Humsafar trains.
How much did Indian Railways save by withdrawing concession for the old?
Back to normal
In H1 FY23, Railways’ earnings out of senior citizens’ tickets were ₹2335.21 crore. This is just ₹675.57 lesser than the money that railways made in FY20, out of these tickets.
Gaur’s RTI’s reply also shows that the number of senior citizens who travel by train has been increasing since 2021 and could probably surpass pre-pandemic levels by the end of FY23. While 7.3 crore senior citizens travelled by Indian Railways in FY20, it dipped to 1.9 crore in FY21. But it increased to 5.5 crore in FY22 and in FY23, until September end, it was 3.87 crore.
Bid to bring back concessions
As restrictions have eased, there has been a lot of hue and cry across sectors, seeking to restore concessions for senior citizens.
“We senior citizens are an unorganised sector, where just a small proportion of people have pensions or earnings,” says TRP Unny, former Secretary General, All India Senior Citizens’ Confederation, a senior citizens’ body. Unny says the body has taken up the issue with the centre on several occasions. “Also, The Government of India has assured in the National Policy on Older Persons 1999 that they will give concessions to senior citizens in all modes of transport,” he says.
Agreeing with this, development economist, Venkatesh Athreya, says, “This concession should be restored since it would benefit the poorer travellers who are far more numerous than the rich. A small proportion would not need it. They can be encouraged not to avail of the concessional fare.”
However, the centre in July said that it is not desirable to restore concessions as the cost weighs heavily on the Railways. On the other hand, a Comptroller and Auditor General report from 2019 noted that “On an average, 8.42 per cent of the reserved passenger earnings were allowed as concessions under various categories.” But, the same report said that number of reserved passengers availing concession had grown at a rate of 6.3 per cent per year between 2015-16 and 2017-18.