Illustrating the importance of social protection in Nepal: Meet Gopal

Gopal, 74 years old. “I have been receiving the old age allowance for the past four years. My wife also gets this grant, for which Sarita helped. My wife is a couple of years older than me, so she has been receiving the grant for longer. I didn’t know about my age, or what papers I needed. We needed to go look for my papers and find my birth date, so I would know when I could start getting this grant. Then, Sarita helped me to fill out the forms at the ward office. It was easy, not hard because she was there and she knew everything, and everyone.

At first, I used to go to the ward office to get the money, but then I opened a bank account, to get the money deposited there. The bank is very near, I take my bicycle to go there whenever the ward office member tells me the grant has been deposited. He lives just around the corner, so it is easy. He also made sure I got the money cash during the lockdown, when the banks were closed. There have never been any delays, I get it every four months.

I have another bank account which I use to get the money for the sugarcane I grow. But most of the money that I make from that, I give to my sons. I have five sons and all of them are married and went away, except the youngest who stays with me. He is a teacher and not yet married. My other four sons are all over, in Kathmandu, India and Saudi Arabia. I don’t expect financial support from them, I think once a boy is married and he has his own family, we should try not to be a burden to them. I try to give them all the money I make from sugarcane, and just live from the old age allowance for us, but it is very little. Even though my sons have jobs, they still can use some extra money because rent and education is so expensive, prices have really gone up.

I usually withdraw the entire amount when I get it, because we need it for food and my medication. My wife suffers from rheumatism, aching bones, and I have gastritis. I go through a bottle of pills almost every ten days, which costs me 200NPR.

While I was working, I paid taxes, of course. I think it is right that the government should support old people, because many times, their children can’t take care of them. We worked a lot and still continue to labour, but that is not always possible."

Testimony gathered during field visit with SPCSN in Province 2, with CFWA and Save the Children.