Senior Citizens and the Government.

                          Senior Citizens and the Government.        M.V.Ruparelia.

It is a general impression that the Government has not done much for Senior Citizens. This is not correct. Government has done a lot and lot is yet to be done for implementation. We, also, have to do a lot from all parts of the Country to get these Policies implemented early. In brief, Government has done the following, which covers almost all aspects of life of Senior Citizens:-

1.      National Policy on Older Persons, 1999 covers all aspects required to be taken into account for welfare of Older Persons. It is really a very comprehensive document leaving not a single matter. It is worth studying Document by all Active Senior Citizens. It covers all the following aspects in detail in favour of Older Persons:-

i)                    Financial Security.

ii)                  Health Care & Nutrition.

iii)                Shelter.

iv)                Education.

v)                  Welfare.

vi)                Protection of Life & Property.

The Policy declares the Older Persons as respected Citizens requiring strengthening of their legitimate place in the Society and to take all actions to help them to live their last phase of life with Purpose, Dignity and Peace. It recognizes the Older Persons as a Resource of the Country. It seeks the cooperation of all government & non-governmental Organizations including the most powerful Media-our Fourth Estate. Health Care is given higher priority. Public Hospitals are asked to provide separate doctors/counters for Senior Citizens to avoid long waits. Group Housing for Senior Citizens, keeping in view their life styles & common facilities necessary, loans at reasonable rates etc are provided. Provision of welfare services including Old Age Homes on priority basis is laid down. Protection of life & property is also given priority. It encourages the children to co-reside with parents by promising to give various incentives to such children. It recognizes the NGOs as a very special & important Institutional Mechanism to provide User-friendly affordable Services to Senior Citizens. Trade Unions, Employers` Organizations & Professional bodies are also requested to provide Services to Senior Citizens. Media is expected to highlight the changing situation of Senior Citizens and identify emerging issues and areas of action. All Stake Holders are goaded to implement all provisions of the Policy by preparing Five Year & Annual Action Plans. An autonomous registered National Association (NAOP) will be established at Centre/State/district level with financial assistance for recurring & non-recurring administrative expenses for 15 years for associations up to State/UT level. These Associations will mobilize senior citizens, particulate their interests, promote & undertake programmes and activities for their wellbeing and to advise the Government on all matters relating to senior citizens. There will be continous dialogue & communication with NGOs on ageing issues. National Policy will be very widely disseminated, so that its features remain in constant public focus. 

 In view of the changing needs of Senior Citizens over the past decade, Government decided to review this Policy and got it reviewed by a Review Committee, which has submitted Revised National Policy for Senior Citizens,2011 (NPSC, 2011) to the Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment on 30-3-11 and is lying with the Ministry since then. Revised Policy envisages creation of separate Department of Senior Citizens and National Commission for Senior Citizens at Centre & State/UT level.

2.  Maintenance & Welfare of Parents & Senior Citizens Act, 2007 (Act 56) has been passed by Parliament and has been made law. It has far reaching effects on Senior Citizens of India. This Act includes the following aspects:-

a) Senior Citizens can claim maintenance from children/grand children. b) Tribunal shall decide such claims expeditiously. c) Property of Senior Citizens shall be protected from forcible transfer. d) A Geriatric Ward shall be provided in every District Level Hospital. e) An Age Old Home shall be available in each District. f) Abandoning a Senior Citizen shall be punishable with imprisonment of 3 months or fine up to Rs 5000 or both. g) Police will be vigilant & helpful to protect Elders, visit regularly, those staying alone, keep a list of all Senior Citizens in their area and provide Help Lines etc. h) State and District Councils will be formed to advise on effective implementation of the provisions of this Act. i) Wide publicity will be given for all Central/State Programmes for welfare of Senior Citizens.    

3. An Integrated Programme for Older Persons (Plan Scheme) – This Scheme has been formulated by revising the earlier scheme of “Assistance to Voluntary Organizations for Programmes relating to the Welfare of the Aged”.  Under this Scheme with effect from 1-4-2008, financial assistance up to 90% of the project cost is provided to NGOs, Panchayati Raj Institutions/local bodies for establishing and maintaining Programmes catering to basic needs of Older Persons particularly food, shelter & health care; Programmes to build & strengthen inter generational relationships between children, youth & elders; Programmes for encouraging Active & Productive Ageing; Programmes for providing Institutional as well as Non-institutional Care/Services to Elders; Research, Advocacy & Awareness building Programmes in the fields of Ageing and any other Programmes in the BEST INTEREST of Older Persons. 16 schemes like Day Care Centres, Physiotherapy Centres, Formation of Senior Citizens Associations, Awareness Projects, Training of Care Givers, Maintenance of Old Age Homes, Sensitization of School/College Students, Mental Health, Disability, Hearing Aid, Dementia, Multi Service, Respite Care, Mobile Medi-Care Units etc are covered under this Programme. Schools, Colleges, Educational Institutes & Recognized Youth Organizations starting such Programmes for Older Persons shall be given 100% cost of such Projects. Ongoing Projects under pre-revised scheme shall continue to get grant-in-aid for establishing & maintaining Old Age Homes, Day Care Centres, Mobile Medicare Units etc..

4.      Reverse Mortgage Scheme: Finance Minister had announced the introduction of this novel Loan Facility called ``Reverse Mortgage Loan`` (RML) in his Budget Speech of 2007. Under this Scheme, any Senior Citizen of 60 years and above, resident of India, having a self-acquired and self-occupied Residential Premises having residual life of at least 20 years and without any encumbrances and in which he is staying at present for one year or more can mortgage the premises to any Primary Lending Institutes (PLI) of his choice. Married couple will be eligible as joint borrowers. In such cases, only one of the borrowers need be 60 and above and another 55 and above. One great advantage for borrowers is that there is no service of loan during their life time/tenor i.e. no pay-backs. The amount of Loan by P.L.I. shall depend upon realizable market value of residential premises assessed by P.L.I., age of borrowers and prevalent rate of interest. According to guide lines of N.H.B., the loan amount along with interest on the basis of Reverse Annuity Mortgage will accrue till the end of tenor of loan. The loan shall become due and payable only when the last surviving borrower dies or would like to sell the premises or permanently moves out of home to stay with some relatives or some institute of aged care home. If the borrowers do not live in the premises continuously for one year or more or do not intend to live there continuously, it shall be treated as moving out permanently. Settlement of loan along with accumulated interest shall be met with by proceeds received out of sale of mortgaged property. The balance surplus, if any, shall be passed on to borrowers or their heirs/estate. Under this Scheme, monthly payment is limited to 10/15/20 years.

5.      Under new Reverse Mortgage Loan enabled Annuity (RMLeA), 2009, Central Bank of India (now, other Banks also) & Star Union Dai-ichi Life Insurance Co. Ltd. have launched an Annuity Product called Cent Swabhiman Plus on 10-12-09, a Reverse Mortgage Loan enabled Annuity (RMLeA) - a unique & tailor-made product facilitating Senior Citizens to avail regular payments throughout life till both die, as against 10/15/20 years by RML Schemes and that too with substantially higher payments than earlier Schemes. Rate of interest charged is 9.5 (to be reset every 2 years) in place of 10 to 12% in RML Schemes. The amount of loan shall depend on market value of your flat (property), your age & prevalent rate of interest. Payment will be made by Insurance Company through Central Bank. Borrowers have to deal with Central Bank only as One-Point Contact for all matters. Income Tax, as per borrower’s taxable position is payable on annuity payments. Capital Gain is payable only at the point of alienation of mortgaged property by the mortgagee for the purpose of recovering loan.

6.      Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna:  Health Insurance cover is provided under this scheme to BPL workers in unorganized sector and their families (up to 5 members including dependent parents) to the extent of Rs.30000 p.a. The beneficiary has to pay only Rs. 30 p.a. as registration fees. Some States have declared better schemes like Rajiv Gandhi Jeevandayee Arogya Yojna (Maharashtra), Rajiv Aarogyasri Community Health Insurance Scheme (Andhra Pradesh).

7.      Facilities to Pensioners: Ministry of Personnel, Pension & Public Grievances has provided Pensioners` Portal to some Associations of Pensioners for expeditious settlement of grievances of Pensioners and paying Rs 75000 p.m. for maintenance of office, portal etc. They have provided regular negotiating machinery named SCOVA for associations to discuss various matters pertaining to Pensioners.

8. Health Care: Ministry of Health & F.W. has formed a National Programme for Care Of Elderly during 11th Five Year Plan, which comprises- National Programme for Health Care of Elderly (Main Scheme) and development of National Institutes of Ageing with a total allocation of Rs 400 crores during Plan Period. Major activities proposed under the main scheme are as below:

A)  Development of 30 bedded health care units for Elderly Persons in 25 Medical Colleges in the Country.

 B) Development of 10 bedded Geriatric Units at District Hospitals in 100 districts of the Country @ 4 districts attached to each Medical College.

C) Development of Physiotherapy Unit at all the CHCs falling under 100 Districts.

 D) Weekly once OPD for Elderly and arrangement for Health                                                                                Melas at the level of PHCs.

 E) Involvement of ASHA at Community Level.

 F) As regards the NIAs, these will be the apex referral institutes of the Country with 200 beds facility. Basic aim of these institutes will be development of specialized manpower, research in gerontology and patient care.

 G) Health Ministry has started accreditation of Hospitals and Health Providers to ensure better medical service to Senior Citizens.

9. Corporate Social Responsibility: Ministry of Corporate Affairs has notified more comprehensive revised Guide Lines for Corporate Social Responsibility in July, 2011, keeping in view the feedback received on earlier Guide Lines of 2009. There are many aspects of CSR but we will see only one aspect of Activities for Social and Inclusive Development:

``Depending upon their core competency and business interest, companies should undertake activities for economic and social development of communities and geographical areas, particularly in the vicinity of their operations. These could include: education, skill building for livelihood of people, health, cultural and social welfare etc., particularly targeting at disadvantaged sections of society.``

 In 2009, the Government had made it mandatory for all Public Sector Oil Companies to spend 2% of their net profits on CSR. All Public Sector Undertakings were required to spend 2 to 5% of their net profits. For Private Sector, guidelines were laid down that companies with net profit of less than US$ 22.5 million will earmark 3-5 per cent of profit for CSR, companies with net profit of between US$ 22.5 million - US$ 112.5 million, will utilize 2-3 per cent for CSR activities and companies with net profit of over US$ 112.5 million will spend 0.5-2 per cent of net profits for CSR. These funds can be requested by our Associations for Welfare of Senior Citizens.

( Note: Above is only brief description of Policies, Please, see detailed Policies in various Web Sites of the Government. More details of these Policies and various Facilities & Concessions available to Senior Citizens are given in Blogs: http://blogs.rediff.com/mvrup & http://rupareliasblog.blogspot.com)

10. Inspite of such marvelous and beneficial Policies, Acts and Schemes announced by Government, the position of Senior Citizens is not much improved mainly for two reasons.

i)                     i) Nodal Ministry has not been able to get many provisions of these policies implemented by other Ministries,  States/UTs/Stake Holders and ii) has miserably failed in creating awareness about these policies amongst the beneficiary Senior Citizens and various Stake Holders. Inspite of clear directives in the Policy for implementation, Nodal Ministry considered the Policy as Guidelines and not as requiring total implementation. It did not make each Stake Holder responsible for implementation by preparing Five Year & Annual Action Plan, as laid down in the Policy. Instead, it spoon-feeds all Ministries by calling Inter Ministerial Meetings for discussions on some topics & not on specific paras of the Policy. Such meetings are also not held or attended regularly and seriously, resulting in non-implementation even after 13 years. Nodal Ministry has failed to create Autonomous National Associations at any level, resulting in non-representation of interest of Elders. Meetings of National Council with 5 representatives from Associations of Senior Citizens and 5 from Pensioners Association to represent 12 crores of Elders are not held regularly nor effectively. Complete indifference of States/UTs is not brought to the notice of higher authorities for timely action. Looking to the deplorable position of pending issues of Elders, it is absolutely necessary to provide independent Director, Joint Secretary and Secretary not only at Centre but also at State/UT Level. National/State Commissions for Senior Citizens for ensuring no violations of Rights Of Senior Citizens are also necessary. Separate Negotiating Machinery like JCM/SCOVA by recognizing existing registered Federations of Senior Citizens and separate Web Site for Senior Citizens with Grievance Solving Machinery will help early implementation of all policies. Monthly financial help for office and other expenses, as given by Pension Ministry to Pensioners Associations with Portals is necessary. Constant advertisements in Newspapers & TV etc, as done by Ministry of Personnel for RTI Act is necessary for keeping various features of NPOP & MWPSC Act, 2007, Integrated Programme etc in public focus and for awareness of Senior Citizens. In Ministry`s Citizen Charter, provision should be made to reply all representations from individuals & registered Associations of Senior Citizens within the prescribed time.

11. We are also responsible for non-implementation of all these Policies, as we do not write, represent, and agitate for their implementation. We have also failed to implement our part of action laid down in Policy, 99. Our Associations are expected to organize various services like Day Care Centres, friendly home visits to older ailing persons, escorting them to hospitals, shopping complexes & other places, satisfy the needs of senior citizens for social interaction, recreation & other activities; organize sensitivity programmes on ageing issues, help them to overcome loneliness, use our professional knowledge, expertise and contacts for needy senior citizens, create awareness about various measures and policies of the government etc. Let us strive to do our duty also & work for early implementation of various policies by constant representations, negotiations and agitation from all parts of the Country, as necessary to persuade Municipal authorities, State/UT & concerned Central Ministries.