New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has decided to source bamboo walking sticks from the Northeast and deliver them to “eligible” senior citizens across the country by post.
By doing this, the government is set to expand the ambit of the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY), implemented by the Union Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, for providing assisted-living devices like walking sticks, elbow crutches, walkers, hearing aids, wheelchairs, artificial dentures and spectacles to senior citizens belonging to the below poverty line (BPL) category. The RVY was launched in 2017.
The beneficiaries will be those who have been receiving old-age pensions under schemes implemented by the Union Ministry of Rural Development. The Centre is working on institutionalising the scheme and expanding its scope to include a “non-assessment based” component, so more senior citizens can benefit, a senior government official told ThePrint. An additional plus will be the promotion of artisans and creation of more business opportunities in the Northeast.
Distribution of the walking sticks is expected to begin before August this year.
“The scheme is targeted at tackling age-related problems among senior citizens of the country by providing assessment-based assistive aids and appliances,” the official explained. “It also aims to distribute walking sticks among senior citizens who have been receiving old-age pensions through the central government’s pension scheme, being implemented by the Ministry of Rural Development.”
“Of the elders who have been receiving the old-age pension, those above 70 years would be auto-selected under the scheme. The walking sticks are going to be delivered at their doorsteps using the postal parcel network,” the official explained. “The assistive devices will be of high quality.”
The official added that around 30 per cent of the scheme outlay will be set aside for sourcing these walking sticks from the region through North Eastern Council, the statutory advisory body for its economic and social development.
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What is RVY scheme?
The RVY scheme is being implemented parliamentary constituency-wise across the country through the Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO), a Central Public Sector Enterprise (CPSE) under the social justice ministry.
While the scheme has been in place since 2017, the government is planning to substantially increase its funding to Rs 1,000 crore for the next four years, the official said, adding that the scheme aims to touch upon at least one crore senior citizens during this four-year period. When the scheme was launched, the amount set aside for implementation of this scheme till 2019-2020 was over Rs 450 crore.
“An attempt is being made to rationalise per beneficiary benefits while expanding the scheme across the country,” reads the social justice ministry’s proposal to expand the ambit of the scheme.
“At the same time, considering the resource constraint, the scheme also proposes a fresh component which will be non-assessment based and will attempt to touch upon the lives of the senior citizens through the support of a walking stick, which is universally required by the aging population in general,” it adds.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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