President gives assent to Loktantra Prahari Samman (Repeal) Act 2023

The President of India has given assent to the Himachal Pradesh Loktantra Prahari Samman (Repealing) Act 2023, thereby ending the grant of monthly honorarium to persons who remained in jail during the emergency in 1975.

The Himachal Vidhan Sabha had passed the repealing of the Act on April 3, 2023 during the budget session. As per the assent for repealing of the Loktantra Prahari Samman Act by the President of India given on November 6, 2025, it shall be deemed to have come into force from April 1, 2023.

With the President giving nod for the repealing of the Act, the people, who had been receiving the monthly financial assistance for having suffered detention during the emergency in 1975, will stop getting this money. It was the previous BJP regime headed by Jai Ram Thakur which had brought the Loktantra Prahari Samman Act to provide a ‘samman rashi’ to people who were jailed during emergency.

Opposition BJP had staged a walkout when the Assembly passed the repealment of this Act while stating that the recipients of this ‘samman nidhi’ was below 100 and just an honour to those who fought to uphold and protect democracy. The BJP had also countered claims that the honorarium was being given mostly to RSS people by stating that people from different political ideologies had been jailed during emergency, which included even George Fernandes, Jai Prakash Narayan and Mulayam Singh Yadav.

The state government had contended that the state’s financial position did not permit grant of such honorarium as almost Rs 3.50 crore annual expenditure was being incurred on it. Another argument put forth was many of the recipients of this honorarium were receiving other pensions so granting them this ‘samman nidhi’ was not appropriate.

After the enactment of the Loktantra Prahari Samman Act by the previous BJP regime in 2021, all such person who remained jailed were provided monthly honorarium. Some of the prominent state BJP leaders, who had remained in jail during emergency and were getting this honorarium included former chief minister Shanta Kumar and former Vidhan Sabha Speaker Radha Raman Shastri.