A senior citizens census in Kerala will be conducted, according to the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) government’s decision on Monday. In order to better serve the state’s growing older population, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that a census would be taken and a data bank would be created.
This will follow the 2015 Disability Census’s pattern. The CM stated in the CMO statement that information would also be gathered regarding the operation of orphanages, senior living facilities, and shelters for the destitute persons.
The Chief Minister advised educating senior persons about several retirement schemes. ‘Lack of awareness prevents many deserving people from accessing benefits. Steps should be taken to create awareness by utilising ward members, health inspectors, social justice department officials, ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, Kudumbashree workers, etc,’ he said.
In order to ensure that the benefits of the schemes reach the grassroots level, the Chief Minister also ordered the Department of Social Justice to operate more block-level offices, as it now only has one office in each district.
Furthermore, according to the CMO statement, he directed the District Social Justice Officer to promptly investigate orphanages, senior living facilities, and shelters for the homeless to evaluate how well they were operating.
It said that a review report on how these establishments were operating was to be given to the state office every three months.
The services provided by the ‘Vayomitram’ scheme for older folks are now only available to residents of government-run old age homes and comparable facilities, according to the statement. Vijayan highlighted this at the meeting and ordered that this be changed.
The chief minister will serve as the chair of the state level review committee, which would convene every six months to assess the operations.
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