Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana - Objectives, Eligibility, Funding, Key matters

Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana: As we grow older and older, there will be a different set of needs that one requires and tend to be more dependent on others for support. Keeping in view of such circumstances, the governments has initiated many schemes over many years to make the lives of senior citizens better and happy. The government of the day headed by NDA has come up with a scheme called Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY) for senior citizens under which free Physical Aids and Assisted-living Devices will be provided for senior citizens belonging to below poverty line (BPL) category of economic class.

Objective of Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana:

The main objective of the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana is to facilitate older people belonging to economically weaker section of the society live an active life by providing Physical Aids and Assisted-living Devices. These devices will help the Senior Citizens to overcome their age related physical impairment and to lead a better and productive life with minimal dependence on care givers or other members of the family

Eligibility for Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana:

1. One must be a senior citizen to avail this scheme, which implies that the applicant should be above 60 years old.
2. One must belong to Below poverty line (BPL) category and should possess a valid BPL card

Funding:

Funds required for implementing this scheme are drawn from senior citizens welfare funds.

Key matters:

1. The Scheme focuses on providing Senior Citizens belonging to BPL category and suffering from any of the age related disability (such as Low vision, Hearing impairment, Loss of teeth and Locomotor disability), with such assisted-living devices which can restore near normalcy in their bodily functions, thus overcoming the disability. The assistive devices shall be of high quality and conforming to the standards laid down by the Bureau of Indian Standards.
2. The Scheme will be implemented by a implementing agency, ‘Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO)’ which a public sector undertaking.
3. Depending upon their physical impairment, the following Aids and Assisted-Living Devices will be provided to eligible senior citizens under the Scheme,

4. It is expected that 5,20,000 Senior Citizens situated in various states over a period of the 3 years will be benefited by this scheme.
5. In case of a person is suffering from multiple disabilities/infirmities, the assistive devices will be given in respect of each disability/impairment.
6. One year free maintenance of the aids & assisted living devices will be provided by ‘Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation (ALIMCO)’
7. Identification of beneficiaries in each district will be done by the State Governments/UT. For this purpose a committee would be chaired by the Deputy Commissioner/District Collector. This committee will utilize the senior citizens data available in databases of old age pension schemes
8. It was said that the government will ensure that 30% of the beneficiaries in each district shall be women. Further the scheme will be implemented in selected districts of the country. Following are the districts selected for implementation of the Scheme during 2016-17