Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Coverage: Senior Citizens, belonging to BPL category and suffering from any of the age-related disability/infirmity Low vision, Hearing impairment, Loss of teeth and Locomotor disability.
What assistance is provided? Assisted-living devices which can restore near normalcy in their bodily functions, overcoming the disability/infirmity manifested. They are free-of-cost.
Funding: This is a Central Sector Scheme, fully funded by the Central Government. The expenditure for implementation of the scheme will be met from the “Senior Citizens’ Welfare Fund “.
Other key facts:
- In the case of multiple disabilities/infirmities manifested in the same person, the assistive devices will be given in respect of each disability/impairment.
- Beneficiaries in each district will be identified by the State Governments/UT Administrations through a Committee chaired by the Deputy Commissioner/District Collector.
- As far as possible, 30% of the beneficiaries in each district shall be women.
Need for the scheme:
With more than 70% of the 104 million elderly living in the rural hinterland, any serious initiative to improve a lot of senior citizens must incorporate adequate budgetary support for social welfare spending on the relevant programmes.
- With the number of the elderly in India set to surge by 2050 to almost 300 million, or about a fifth of the population, governments need to make more comprehensive efforts to address the problems of elderly.
