No pensions for five months: How Jharkhand’s poor were left poorer during the pandemic In one district, pension funds were diverted to make payments under the Centre’s Covid-19 relief package. Mar 02, 2021 · 09:00 am Left to right: Jitan Ram, Devnandan Jadhav, Dukhan Singh are among the pensioners who did not get their pensions for five months in Jharkhand. In July 2020, soon after the Covid-19 lockdown was lifted, 62-year-old Dukhan Singh fractured his leg when a wall collapsed on him in Ukamar village in Jharkhand’s Latehar district. As a small farmer with a meagre income, he had to borrow more than Rs 10,000 from relatives to pay his hospital bills. He planned to pay off his debts through the pension of Rs 1,000 that he is entitled to receive under a central government welfare scheme for senior citizens.