Vice President of India released a Report prepared by Transparency International India (TII)-CMS Corruption Study, 2007, which indicated that BPL Families had to pay Rs 883 crore bribe to avail 11 basic facilities & need based public services in the last one year. Vice President suggested 4 pronged drive to eliminate corruption-i) simplification of procedures; ii) streamlining of information flows; iii) reinventing front end staff and iv) activating civil society groups. 11 Services included in this Report were Public Distribution Scheme; Hospital Services; Senior Secondary School Education; Electricity & Water supply and need based services; National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA); Land Records & Registration; Forest; Housing; Banking and Police Service. There are several welfare schemes for all Below Poverty Line Senior Citizens. The procedure for inclusion of name in the category of Below Poverty Line is very cumbersome. Planning Commission of India vide their letter dt 4-9-08 have advised that this is done as per Expert Group Method from the large sample survey data on house hold consumer expenditure conducted by the National Sample Survey Organization using the Consumer Price Index of Agricultural Labourers for rural poverty lines and Consumer Index for Industrial Workers for urban poverty lines. All-India poverty line for 2004-05 on the basis of expenditure-consumption data collected from 30 day recall period for all items work out to Rs 356.30 for rural & Rs 538.60 for urban poor. Each State has different figures and all-India figures are weighted average of the state-wise ratios. It is necessary for getting advantage of various schemes to get included in the list of families below poverty line of the State concerned. This procedure is required to be simplified immediately. Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension (IGNOAPS): This Pension is now granted to all Senior Citizens of 65 & above belonging to a house hold below the poverty line and not limited to destitutes only, as earlier. Revised Scheme is formally launched on 19-11-07 by Prime Minister. The contribution of Central Government is Rs 200 per beneficiary p.m. and minimum Rs 200 from the State. Some States are giving more. Pension is to be credited, where feasible, in to a Post Office or Public Sector Bank account of the beneficiary for 3 months with permission to withdraw every month only one month's pension. Government of Maharashtra has started this scheme with effect from 1-11-07, as notified in their GR dt 5-3-08. The amount of this Pension is notified as Rs 500 p.m. (State Contribution Rs 300) vide their GR dt 30-9-08. The claimant has to be in the list of families under BPL, has to produce proof of age and certificate of residing in Maharashtra for 15 years. If the beneficiary does not withdraw his monthly pension continuously for 3 months, the amount shall be transferred back to the State. Those, who are handicapped and unable to walk, their pension shall be paid by Money Order at State Expense up to March, 09. Thereafter this facility shall not be available. In all cases, Post Office/Bank Accounts have to be opened. Life Certificate is necessary every year and should be produced between January & March, failing which pension shall be stopped from 1st April. Entitlement of beneficiary shall also be checked up every year. The beneficiary has to apply in the prescribed form in duplicate to the talati/tahsildar of his area and obtain an acknowledgement from him. All enclosures should also be in duplicate. Under Sanjay Gandhi Niradhar Anudan Yojna of Maharashtra, the destitute Senior Citizens under 65 shall get Rs 500 p. m., if family income is less than Rs 21000 p.a. If there is more than one beneficiary, the amount shall be Rs 750 p.m. The beneficiary has to apply in prescribed form with certificates for age, income, residential proof for 15 years, not staying in any Vrudhashram and not getting any monthly allowance through any other scheme etc and for being destitute. Under the revised scheme of IGNOAPS, 1.6 crore Senior Citizens shall be getting benefit. 30% of Senior Citizens are below poverty line and as such about 3 crore are required to be covered under this scheme. The present age limit from 65 should be reduced to 60 and condition of inclusion in list of families below poverty line must be removed. Proper financial limit, taking into account GDP and Per Capita Income of Indian Citizen; and minimum pay & pension given recently to Central Government employees should be prescribed. Monthly Pension of Rs 400 or near about and that too for a Family is a mockery of human beings and Human Right Organization must force the Government to keep this Pension sufficiently high to keep the old human being to survive! National Family Benefit Scheme (NFBS): Under this Scheme, Rs 10000 is given to a BPL family on the death of a primary bread winner between the ages of 18-64 years. This amount should be increased considerably. Indira Awaas Yojna: This scheme was introduced in 1985-86 and provides houses free of cost to below poverty line BPL S C/S T families(40%), physically & mentally challenged(3%) and non S C /S T BPL house holds staying in rural areas. This is given for new houses as well as conversion of kucha houses in to pucca ones. Cost of the new house is limited to Rs 35000 in plain areas and Rs 38500 in hilly/difficult areas and for conversion Rs 10000 to be financed by Central and State Governments in ratio of 75/25. Similar scheme for providing shelter to Rural BPL families is announced under Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojna also. The purpose is sustainable human development at the village level. This scheme also provides funds for all basic minimum services in the village viz shelter, slum development, roads, bridges & various other schemes. All Senior Citizens under BPL, whether in cities or rural area are required to be provided with proper housing and as such both these Schemes may be revised to include all BPL Senior Citizens and not restricted to Rural BPL only. Antyodaya Anna Yojna: This scheme is launched in 2001 and provides 35 kg of food grains per family at highly subsidized rates to 1.5 crore of BPL families. Under National Food for Work (NFFW), rice is given free to BPL in certain backward areas. Under Sampurna Gramin Rozgar Yojna (SGRY), 5kg of rice & Rs 32 cash is given as daily wages per day to BPL Workers for works like construction of roads, infrastructure for education, health improvements, improvement of environment etc. Annapurna Scheme: Under this Scheme launched from 1-4-2001, 10 kg of food grains per month free of cost is provided to BPL persons entitled to IGNOAP but not getting that pension. Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna: Introduced since April, 99, this scheme provides sustainable income to Rural Poor and BPL families. Under this scheme, credit-cum-subsidy is provided for self-employment, skill development etc. It covers all aspects of Self-Employment like organization of self help groups, training, credit technology, infrastructure & marketing. 4-5 Activities are earmarked for a particular Block with approval of Panchayat Samiti. This is financed in ratio of 75/25 by Centre & state. Jawahar Gram Samrudhi Yojna: This is the restructured, streamlined & comprehensive version of erstwhile Jawahar Rozgar Yojna, designed to improve quality of life of rural BPL poor. Under this scheme, a demand driven community village infrastructure including durable assets at the village level are created to enable poor to increase the opportunities for sustained employment and generation of supplementary employments. Vrudhashrams: Many States have provided free Vrudhashrams for destitute BPL Senior Citizens with free food, sleeping arrangements, free medical facilities etc For other Senior Citizens also, some Vrudhashrams with facilities of garden, library, TV, Indoor Games etc are provided by some States. In Maharashtra, Matoshri Vrudhashrams are provided and given to private parties/NGOs for management. As there are 3 crore BPL Senior Citizens in India, large number of Vrudhashrams are necessary in view of Joint Family System being on the way to EXIT. 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) to the extant of Rs.30000 p.a. The beneficiary has to pay only Rs. 30 p.a. as registration fees. Every State has to implement this scheme in a phased manner and cover all their districts by 2012-13. States have to approve Insurance Company/ies in each district and nominate proper Public/Private Hospitals having sufficient facilities as per guidelines. The insurance company shall enroll the beneficiaries. The scheme shall be financed by Central & State governments, as laid down. Smart cards shall be issued to each beneficiary house holds for cashless service in the nominated hospitals. The beneficiaries shall be eligible for coverage of financial costs of inpatient health care services as well as agreed day care procedures not requiring hospitalization, as decided by State Government with Insurance Company. Some basic exclusions are also kept. In Maharashtra, 7 districts are covered during the current year. Rural Group Life Insurance Scheme-Arogya Raksha Yojna: At the instance of Central Government, LIC has introduced this scheme to provide social security to Rural Families by way of life insurance from 15-8-95 for life cover of Rs 5000 for 2 types of policies. One-general- by full payment of premium by the Applicant and another-subsidized for BPL house holds-one policy for full family. Premium is subsidized by Central & State Governments on 50-50 basis. Private Charitable Hospitals: As per provisions in Sec 41AA in The Bombay Public Trust Act,1950 and similar Acts elsewhere, Charity Commissioner has to instruct & ensure that all private charitable hospitals reserve & earmark 10% of total number of Operational Beds and 10% of the total capacity of patients treated at such hospitals for medical examination & treatment in each Department of the hospital for INDIGENT PATIENTS and are required to be given free treatment on par with paying patients and without any discrimination . They are also required to earmark 10% more in both operation & OPD for those belonging to weaker sections of the society seeking admission or treatment and are required to be treated at concessional rates. Indigent person means, whose total income does not exceed Rs 3600 p.a. and person belonging to weaker section means those, whose income does not exceed Rs 15000 p.a. Almost all Private Hospitals, are run by Charitable Trusts and are required to give this facility. In addition to above, all BPL Senior Citizens are entitled for many other facilities/benefits notified separately for all Senior Citizens in general.
About the Author:
Dr.R.SRINIVASAN is a Post graduate in commerce and corporate secretary ship . He received his doctoral degreein the Managementfaculty from Alagappa University in 1997. He is now Working as an ASSOCIATE PROFESSORin Post graduate and Research Department of Corporate Secretaryship at Bharathidasan Government College for Women (Autonomous), Pondicherry University, Puducherry.He currently teaches Accounting ,financial management and Research Methodology Subjects. Before Joining BGCW, he was teaching in SNR College, Coimbatore, Sindhi college, Chennai& T.S.Narayanasamy College, Chennai for eight years. He was with the industry for a short term at Salzar Electronics Pvt. Ltd, Coimbatore. He has about 20 years of teaching experience and having research experience of 15 years. His interests are in Accounting and finance, Capital Market, Quantitative Methods. He underwent the Faculty Development Programme at Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad during 2000-01. He has presented 20 papers in national and international conferences and has published twenty papers in the areas of Finance and Human resource Management in National Journals. Co-authored a book titled, 'Investors Protection, published by Raj Publications, New Delhi . Delivered lectures in contemporary finance topics at Pondicherry University. He is involved in consultancy projects for Godrej Saralee, Chennai in the areas of Statistical Applications. Supervised a number of research projects in the area of corporate finance and Human Resource Management. He is the Board of examiner in corporate Secretaryship and Management for the past two decades. UGCSanctioned funded major project in Management (Finance area) for two years (2010-2012).
