Chinese man crushed to death by hydraulic press at factory in Thailand
A Chinese man died yesterday when his head was crushed by a hydraulic rubber press he was repairing at a tire factory in eastern Thailand's Rayong province.
Currently, elderly people in Thailand receive a measly 600 and 1,000 baht per month to ease their financial burden. The exact amount depends on their age.
The People's Network for the Welfare State advocates a pension of 3,000 baht for all older people. They said there was a need to put pressure on political parties to take action and adopt a universal policy. Several parties, including the Forward Forward Party, the Prachachat Party and the Tai Sang Tai Party, already support this policy.
Since 2020, the People's Network has been trying to make the National Pension a part of public policy and has proposed a National Pension Bill to Parliament. The petition has garnered more than 10,000 signatures, but the 3,000 baht universal pension plan has yet to gain significant support in parliament.
The Faculty of Economics at Thammasat University proposed that the pension be paid everywhere, and not just to targeted needy groups.
“If the allowance is only given to targeted groups such as the poor, there will be many poor people who will be excluded from the program by mistake.”
They claimed that even 3,000 baht a month would be a problem for most people. The faculty also pointed out that the pensions officials receive each month are much higher than those sent to the general public.
He suggested that instead of worrying that there would be no money in the budget to pay pensions for the elderly, the authorities should stop providing tax deductions to the 20% of the wealthiest people. They urged the government to start collecting taxes from those currently missing from the tax base.
