To improve services and benefits for senior citizens, amendments to the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 and a national policy were on the cards, Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thawarchand Gehlot said on Thursday.
Mr. Gehlot was speaking at the ceremony of the Ministry’s annual national awards for senior citizens and organisations working for their cause. President Ram Nath Kovind handed out the awards honouring 15 individuals and organisations as part of the Ministry’s celebrations of the International Day of Older Persons, which was on October 1.
“To give further benefits to senior citizens and parents, we are working on amendments to the Act. The amendments would reach finality soon...A new national policy is also being drafted,” he said.
Mr. Gehlot said the Ministry’s Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana, which was started in 2017, had distributed physical aids and assistive living devices like wheelchairs and hearing aids etc, to 1.13 lakh seniors at a cost of ₹68 crore so far.
