A Criminologist’s Diary-5

Retirement as vote bank

"Retirement at the age of 65 is ridiculous. When I was 65,I still had pimples"-said a professor who retired from Michigan University when he heard that I retired from active Government service at the age of 55 on superannuation. He could not believe me and I think that he still does not believe me. Yes, my from Rochester, New York, is 73 years of age now and he retired from his active service only about a couple of years back.

In Kerala, India, some people retire at the age of 65,some at the age of 60 , some at the age of 55 , some do not have retirement and some get reemployment after retirement. Is there any place in the entire universe where so much confusion and differences in the age of retirement exists?-There is unreasonableness too in the matter of retirement. People are literally kicked out or forced to retire at the prime of their youth from active Government service for enabling new job seekers to get into the service. I am told that the number of pensioners is going to outnumber the number of employees in Government service. I understand that the fund spent from Government exchequer to give pension to the young pensioners is very huge and the amount of money spent for giving salary to the new entrants to the service is indeed very high. Adding them together, it is easy to understand that the Government service is highly expensive and the people are condemned to get inferior services as the experienced employees are at home as retired people. The inexperienced new entrants render their service and by the time they become mature and experienced, they too are dragged out or kicked out. They know their bad fate so much so that an employee who joins the service at the age of 40 gets hardly 15 years to go for his retirement. He must live even after his retirement and corruption becomes the easiest short cut to amass wealth and live comfortably after his retirement. In my view, the early retirement is a push or pull factor for corruption and bribery in Government service. More about my Push-Pull-Ego-Factor theory on crime causation (here corruption) is not discussed here. It is out of context.

"Before getting employed in Government service, a man yearns for a job and after getting employed, the 'Y' is silent"- and this is so because he has to say good bye to his service at the age of 55 on superannuation. If at all the exchequer has a great loss-if at all the service is rendered by the newly appointed in an inferior way-if at all corruption in multiplied-if at all confusion and unreasonableness persists in the matter of retirement age, one thing is ensured-i.e., the VOTE BANK is well protected. All is well that ends well .Nevertheless, some remedies are worse than the disease and the decision to pull out the Government employees at the age of 55 on superannuation in the most literate State in India is said to be a REMEDY for unemployment, but certainly worse than the DISEASE.