Senior citizens in the State can now register online to get State government-authorised senior citizens’ identity cards.
The Department of Disability and Senior Citizens Welfare launched the portal here on Monday on the occasion of The United Nations International Day of Older Persons. Until now senior citizens had to procure ID cards attesting their age through empanelled agencies. This has been made simpler as now they can apply for the card with the click of a button.
The portal can be accessed on the official website of the department. Those who want to register have to provide their mobile number and scanned copies of address proof and photographs. Once submitted, the department will verify their personal details before issuing the identity card.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Women and Child Welfare and Empowerment of Disabled and Senior Citizens Jayamala said the portal would help in issuing more number of identity cards, authorising senior citizens to avail various welfare schemes meant for them. At present, there are 57.92 lakh senior citizens in the State, of which 14.65 lakh have senior citizen IDs, she said.
‘Pension will be increased’
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who launched the online portal, said the State government would increase senior citizens’ pension to ₹5,000 per month, from the existing ₹1,000. “Earlier it was ₹600. This had been increased to ₹1,000, with effect from November this year. This will be further increased to ₹5,000 during the tenure of this government,” he said.
Marking the World Older Person’s Day, the government also honoured nine senior citizens who had made a difference in their respective fields of expertise.
These included B.V. Markande (Education), D.N. Sampath (Sports), Sadashiva Siddappa Belagali (Law), P.S. Shankar (Literature), Chindodi Bangaresh (Arts), Vijayalakshmi Deshamane (Social Service), Mahadevi Hulluru (Social Service) and Jagadamba Narayanaswamy (Social Service).
