Nine months after retiring from Punjabi University, Patiala, a respected professor remains unpaid and unheard. Professor Rajesh Kumar, a widely respected scholar in English literature with an unblemished 38-year academic career, has turned to the public, social media, and YouTube to expose what he calls “undeserved hardship and institutional apathy.”
Despite fulfilling all retirement formalities three months before his superannuation on 30 June 2024, Professor Kumar has not received a single rupee of his pension or Provident Fund. Most shockingly, the Pension Payment Order (PPO)—the basic legal documentation required to start a pension—has still not been issued.
“I never imagined that after a life dedicated to teaching and research, I would have to beg for my own pension,” Professor Kumar wrote in a blistering open letter addressed to the Chief Minister of Punjab, which he posted on his Facebook page this week.
In the letter, he also revealed that multiple emails and messages to the Vice Chancellor and Registrar of Punjabi University went unanswered. A last-resort letter to the Chancellor too failed to prompt any action.
“This silence,” Kumar wrote, “is not ignorance—it is institutional cruelty.”
Earlier, the professor had shared a video on his YouTube channel, speaking directly to students, fellow teachers, and the citizens of Punjab. “This is how you treat a teacher?” he asked, with visible anguish. The video has begun to gain traction, drawing sympathy—and outrage—from across the academic community and the public.
And yet, no action
The Chief Minister’s office has remained unresponsive. University authorities continue their silence. And Professor Kumar’s dues continue to hang in bureaucratic limbo.
A Larger Crisis?
This is not just a personal story—it’s a damning reflection of how Punjab’s educational institutions are treating those who served them with dedication. If a professor of such seniority, reputation, and spotless conduct can be pushed to this level of public protest, what happens to others without the same visibility?
Are retired government employees now expected to campaign online for what is rightfully theirs?
Professor Kumar is now demanding not only the immediate release of his pension and dues but also a formal inquiry into the conduct of the responsible officials.
What Message Is Punjab Sending?
In a state where slogans of Punjab Vassda Guran De Naan Te and respect for teachers are frequently repeated, Professor Kumar’s ordeal stands as a stark contradiction. It lays bare a bureaucratic machinery that punishes the honest and forgets the faithful.
Will the Chief Minister break his silence? Or will this professor—who gave nearly four decades of his life to education—be forced to fight alone for what the Constitution already guarantees him?
As of this report, neither Punjabi University Patiala nor any government official has issued a response.
Corruption or Scandal?
Given the details of the case, one cannot help but ask: is this merely bureaucratic negligence, or the tip of something far deeper—an institutional scandal, financial corruption, or a case of moral decay within the system?
When a professor who gave 38 years of spotless service is left without a pension, provident fund, or even a PPO number for nine months, despite completing all formalities well in advance, it raises unsettling questions.
Who is responsible for this silence? Is this an isolated lapse or a pattern of apathy faced by countless others? And most importantly, what does it say about a society that allows its educators—its torchbearers of knowledge—to be humiliated in retirement?
Where is the much-promised anti-corruption crusade?
An impartial inquiry into those responsible—and the plight of other aggrieved pensioners—may well open the floodgates to a much larger truth. Is this a systemic failure, or a deliberate suppression of rightful dues? The silence from the authorities is telling.
Will the Chief Minister, who rose to power on the promise of uprooting 70 years of corruption and positioning himself as an anti-corruption crusader, dare to treat this as more than an individual grievance? Or will this case be brushed aside quietly, while a generation of retired educators continues to suffer in silence? The answer to that may define not just this government’s integrity, but its legacy.
Leave a Reply