Why in news:

• The state government of Himachal Pradesh has repealed the provisions of the Loktantra Prahari Samman Act which provided an honorarium to Loktantra Praharis.

Key Points:

• The Loktantra Prahari Samman Act provided a monthly pension of Rs 20000 and Rs 12000 to the people who were lodged in jails during the Emergency from 1975 to 1977 under Maintenance of Internal Security Act. The recipients of the said pension/ honorarium were known as Loktantra Praharis.
• As per the official statement, which was brought for repealing in the Assembly the Himachal Pradesh Loktantra Prahri Samman Act, 2021 of the (Act No. 5 of 2021), is hereby repealed. The repeal of the Act under section 2, shall not affect the previous operations of the said Act or anything duly done or Provided that any right, privilege, title, facility, benefit or Samman Rashi being granted under the Act so repealed shall not continue after the commencement of this Act.
• According to the state PWD minister, the previous government had killed democracy by bringing this law.  According to the current government, such an honour should be given only to the freedom fighters. It has further underlined that none of the so-called Loktantra Praharis had played any role in the freedom struggle, so it is totally wrong to compare people who were in jails during emergencies to the ones who fought for country’s freedom from British rule.
• Besides, the state government officials also pointed out the issue of irregularities in the disbursal of monetary benefits under the scheme, wherein under unclear criteria, public money was disbursed for satisfaction of political goals.