Unit 5: Social Welfare Policies and Programs:

Policies for People with Disabilities, senior citizens and Transgenders.

SOCIAL WELFARE: POLICIES AND PROGRAMMES

Social welfare programs and policies are designed to help people who are poor,
unemployed, or marginalized in society. They can include programs for healthcare, housing,
and empowerment.
Here are some examples of social welfare programs and policies:
 Unemployment benefit programs

Provide financial aid to people who are unemployed through no fault of their own.
 Education
Governments often use a distributive policy, where more people pay taxes to fund
education than the number of people who attend school.
 Homeowner assistance
Governments can provide assistance programs to qualified buyers who don't have
the money for a down payment.
 Old-age, invalidity, and survivor programs
Provide benefits to people who are no longer able to work, are permanently
disabled, or are left dependent by a deceased worker.
Some examples of social welfare programs in India include:
 Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA)

 National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM)

 National Rural Health Mission (NRHM)
 Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA)
 Mid-Day Meal (MDM) Scheme
 Ayushman Bharat
 Food Subsidy and the National Food Security Act
 Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM)
 Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana – Gramin (PMAY – G)
 Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)

In India, there is no comprehensive policy on social welfare covering a range of issues

affecting various disadvantaged sections of the society like Scheduled Castes, destitutes,
street children, aged, disabled and so on. However, most of these issues are covered under the
gamut of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment (MSJE). Since the history of this
creation of this Ministry from Ministry of Welfare and even before that has been covered in
earlier units, we do not discuss it here again. The MSJE is entrusted with the welfare, social
justice and empowerment of disadvantaged and marginalized sections of the society viz,
Scheduled Caste, Backward Classes, Persons with Disabilities, Aged Persons, and victims of
Drug Abuse, etc. The basic objective of the policies, programmes, law and institution of the
Indian welfare system is to bring the target groups into the main stream of development by
making them self-reliant.
The Organization’s structure is as follows: Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment as
the name suggests is to ensure equitable treatment to such sections of society suffering social
inequalities, exploitation, discrimination and injustice. The Ministry is headed by Cabinet
Minister and Minister of State. Next, are the Secretary and then Additional Secretary of the
MSJE. The activities of the Ministry are under taken through Bureaus as the Bureau of
Scheduled Castes Development, Backward Classes Bureau Coordination, Media,
Administration, Disability Bureau, Social Defence Bureau and Project, Research, Evaluation
and Monitoring Bureau, each Bureau is headed by Joint Secretary.

Persons with Disabilities

Differently-abled population statistics in India

 As per the Census 2011, the differently-abled population in India is 26.8 million.
In percentage terms, this stands at 2.21 %. There has been a marginal increase in
the differently-abled population in India, with the figure rising from 21.9 million in
2001 to 26.8 million in 10 years. There are 14.9 million men with disabilities as
compared to 11.8 million women in the country. The total number of differently-abled
people is over 18 million in the rural areas and just 8.1 million enumerated in the
urban settings. The percentage of men with disabilities is 2.41 as against 2.01 in
women. Social groups wise analysis shows, 2.45 per cent of the total disabled
population belong to the Scheduled Castes, 2.05 to the Scheduled Tribes and 2.18 per
cent to other than SC/ST. Even among these two social groups, the proportion of men
with disabilities is higher as compared to women.
 State-wise data shows, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Jammu and Kashmir
have more than 2.51 per cent disabled population whereas in Tamil Nadu, Assam,
Meghalaya, Assam and Nagaland, the percentage is less than 1.75.
 Over 5.4 million people have some kind of physical disability, followed by hearing
impairment affecting 5.07 million and 5.03 million who have problems with their
vision. Just about 2 million have speech disability, and 2 million are affected by
mental retardation and other mental illnesses. The proportion of women suffering
from seeing, hearing and multiple disabilities is higher than men. Disability in seeing,
hearing and movement and multiple disability is more among STs than SCs and
others while disability in speech and mental retardation is more among others than
SC/ST. Age-wise break-up of the data suggests disability is more among people
aged 80 years and above, and the least among children aged up to 4 years. Disability
among STs in lower age groups up to 40-49 years is significantly lower than the other
social groups whereas in the higher age group (60 plus), it is high among STs.
 Census 2011 data on Disabled Population in the age-group 5-19 by their
Attendance Status in Educational Institutions and type of Disability indicates that
there are about 65.7 lakh disabled population in age-group 5-19, out of which 40.2
lakh (61.2%) are attending educational institutions, 8.0 lakh (12.1%) attended
educational institutions earlier and 17.5 lakh (26.7%) never attended any educational
institutions. Further, out of 40.2 lakh disabled persons attending educational
institutions, 22.8 lakh (56.7%) are males and 17.4 lakh (43.3%) are females. As such,
there is an improvement of about 11 percentage points in the status of attending
 educational institutions by disabled persons in the age-group 5-19 during the decade
2001-2011.
 It is further noticed that disabled persons with ‘Any other disability’ shows the
highest percentage (71.2%) in attending educational institution followed by ‘Seeing’
(68.0%), ‘Hearing’ (67.0%), ‘Movement’ (59.6%), ‘Speech’ (58.9%), ‘Mental
retardation’ (47.2%), ‘Multiple disability’ (37.2%) and least with ‘Mental illness’
(34.1%). Maximum percentage of disabled persons who attended educational
institution earlier is seen in ‘Movement’ (17.7%) followed by ‘Mental illness’
(15.5%), and least in ‘Multiple disability’ (8.4%). The proportion of disabled persons,
who never attended any educational institution in 2011 was found to be highest
among persons with ‘Multiple disability’ (54.4%), followed by ‘Mental illness’
(50.3%) and ‘Mental retardation’ (41.2%) whereas persons with ‘Any other disability’
(17.7%) show the least percentage.
Differently-abled welfare in India
 The Constitution of India ensures equality, freedom, justice and dignity of all
individuals and implicitly mandates an inclusive society for all, including persons
with disabilities. The Constitution in the schedule of subjects lays direct
responsibility of empowerment of disabled persons on the State governments.
Therefore, the primary responsibility to empower the disabled rests with the State
governments.
 Under Article 253 of the Constitution read with item No. 13 of the Union List, the
Government of India enacted ‘The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities,
Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995’, in an effort to ensure equal
opportunities for persons with disabilities and their full participation in nation-
building. The Act extends to the whole of India, except the State of Jammu and
Kashmir. The Government of Jammu and Kashmir has separately enacted ‘The
Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights & Full
Participation) Act, 1998’.
 A multi-sectoral collaborative approach, involving all the appropriate governments,
i.e., ministries of the Central Government, the State Governments/UTs, Central/State
undertakings, local authorities and other appropriate authorities is being followed in
the implementation of various provisions of the Act.
 India is a signatory to the ‘Declaration on the Full Participation and Equality of
People’ with Disabilities in the Asia-Pacific Region. India is also a signatory to the
Biwako Millennium Framework working towards an inclusive, barrier free and
rights-based society. India signed the UN Convention on Protection and Promotion
of the Rights and Dignity of Persons with Disabilities on 30th March, 2007, the day
it opened for signature. India ratifies the UN Convention on 1st October, 2008.

Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (Divyangjan)

In order to give focused attention to Policy issues and meaningful thrust to the activities
aimed at welfare and empowerment of the Persons with Disabilities, a separate Department of
Disability Affairs was carved out of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment on May
12, 2012. The Department was renamed as Department of Empowerment of Persons with
Disabilities (Divyangjan) on 08.12.2014. The Department acts as a Nodal Agency for
matters pertaining to disability and Persons with Disabilities including effecting closer
coordination among different stakeholders: related Central Ministries, State/UT
Governments, NGOs etc. in matters pertaining to disability.
The Department has the vision to build an inclusive society in which equal opportunities are
provided for the growth and development of Persons with Disabilities so that they can lead
productive, safe and dignified lives.
The Department deals with the following Legislations governing different aspects of
disability and welfare & empowerment of the Persons with Disabilities :
1. The Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992,
2. The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation) Act, 1995; and
3. The National Trust for the Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental
Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act , 1999

The government has enacted three legislations for persons with disabilities viz.
(i) Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full
Participation) Act, 1995, which provides for education, employment,
creation of barrier free environment, social security, etc.
(ii) National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental
Retardation and Multiple Disabilities Act, 1999 has provisions for legal
guardianship of the four categories and creation of enabling environment
for as much independence as possible,
(iii) Rehabilitation Council of India Act, 1992 deals with the development of
manpower for providing rehabilitation services.

Let us first take a look at the salient features of the National Policy for Persons with
Disabilities.
The National Policy recognizes that Persons with Disabilities (PWD) are valuable human
resource for the country and seeks to create an environment that provides them equal
opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation in society. The policy focuses on
prevention of disabilities (awareness and early detection camps) and rehabilitation measures
(physical, educational, vocational and economic rehabilitation for a dignified life in society).
It talks about awareness, early detection and intervention, counseling and medical
rehabilitation, provision of suitable and modern aids and appliances through DDRCs and
Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) of National Rural Health Mission, National
institutes mentioned above and their outreach work. The policy talks about development of
Rehabilitation Professionals by giving training to Anganwadi workers, Auxiliary Nurse
Midwifes, NGO workers and creating awareness among teachers, panchayat members and
community people. Special emphasis is given on education of PWDs in Sarva Shiksha
Abhiyan, Integrated Education for Disabled Children (IEDC) scheme. Further, 3%
reservation in educational institutions and employment in government institutions and PSUs
has been provided. The policy also reinforces the need for barrier free environment in public
buildings and transport amenities.
The constitution of India ensures equality, freedom, justice and dignity of all individuals and
implicitly mandates an inclusive society for all including persons with disability.

In addition to the legal framework, extensive infrastructure has been developed in the form
of following institutions:
Institute for the Physically Handicapped, New Delhi
National Institute of Visually Handicapped, Dehradun
National Institute for Orthopaedically Handicapped, Kolkata
National Institute for Mentally Handicapped, Secunderabad
National Institute of Hearing Handicapped, Mumbai
National Institute of Rehabilitation, Training and Research, Cuttack
National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities, Channai.
There are five composite rehabilitation centres, four Regional Rehabilitation centres and
120 District Disability Rehabilitation centres (DDRCs) providing various kinds of
rehabilitation services. Several other institutions, under Ministry of Health & Family Welfare
– National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore; All India Institute of
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Mumbai; All India Institute of Speech and Hearing,
Mysore; Central Institute of Psychiatry, Ranchi, etc., also provide rehabilitation services.
National Handicapped and Finance Development Corporation (NHFDC) has been providing
loans for self-employment ventures of persons with disabilities.
Number of schemes, programmes and projects are implemented supported by an
infrastructural network of the Disability Division in the Ministry. The infrastructure includes
National Institutes, Rehabilitation Council of India (RCI), Artificial Limbs Manufacturing
Corporation of India (ALIMCO), National Trust for Welfare of Persons with Autism,
Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and Multiple Disabilities, office of the Chief
Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities and District Disability Rehabilitation Centres.
Funding schemes of the Division are - Scheme to promote voluntary action for persons with
disabilities; Scheme of Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/ Fitting of Aids and
Appliances; Science and Technology project in Mission Mode on application of Technology
for the welfare and rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, Scheme of National Award for
the Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities; Scheme for providing Employment to the
Persons with Disabilities in the Private Sector - Incentives to employers and Audio Book
Production Centres.

Elderly Care
Senior Citizens
The population of senior citizens, as per Census 2011, was approximately 10.38 crore,
amounting to 8.6% of the total population in the country.
The National Policy on Older Persons, 1999, which is presently in force, envisages State support
to ensure financial and food security, health care, shelter, protection and other needs of older
persons to improve quality of their lives.
Under the Umbrella Scheme of Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana, effective since 1 st April 2021, the
Department of Social Justice and Empowerment is implementing various welfare schemes for
improving the living standard of senior citizens.
The Umbrella Scheme of Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana, being run by Department of Social
Justice and Empowerment, has the vision to create a society where senior citizens live a
healthy, happy, empowered, dignified and self-reliant life along with strong social and inter-
generational bonding. The Umbrella Scheme has the following welfare schemes for senior
citizens:

1. Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens (IPSrC):

The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment implements a Central Sector Scheme
namely Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens (IPSrC) under which grants in aid are
given for running and maintenance of Senior Citizens Homes/ Continuous Care Homes,
Mobile Medicare Units etc. to the Implementing Agencies (IAs) such as Registered
Societies/ Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) / Local bodies;
Non-Governmental/Voluntary Organizations.
 2. State Action Plan for Senior Citizens (SAPSrC):

Appreciating the critical and significant role of States/UTs, each

State/UT is expected to plan and strategize taking into account their local considerations
and frame their own State Action Plans for the welfare of their senior citizens. This
State Action Plan may comprise a long-term strategy for five years as well as Annual
Action Plans. Department of Social Justice and Empowerment releases funds to the
States/UTs for formulation and implementation of their State Action Plans.

3. Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY):

Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana (RVY) is a Central Sector Scheme funded from Senior
Citizens’ Welfare Fund. Under the Scheme of RVY, aids and assistive living devices
are provided to senior citizens belonging to BPL category or those senior citizens who
earn less than 15000/- per month and suffer from age related disabilities such as low
vision, hearing impairment, loss of teeth and loco-motor disabilities. The aids and
assistive devices viz. walking sticks, elbow crutches, walkers/crutches,
tripods/quadpods, hearing aids, wheelchairs, artificial dentures and spectacles are
provided to eligible beneficiaries, free of cost. The Scheme is being implemented by
Artificial Limbs Manufacturing Corporation of India (ALIMCO) which is a Public
Sector Undertaking under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

4. Livelihood and Skilling Initiatives for Senior Citizens:

It aims to supplement the efforts of the senior citizens by providing them

opportunities to enhance their earning and sense of self-respect. To encourage senior
citizens of the country to form Self Help Groups for keeping themselves engaged for
carrying out activities that may result into marketable products. This scheme has two
programmes:

i. Senior Able Citizens for Re-Employment in Dignity (SACRED) portal – The

portal allows bringing people together by virtual matching of preferences by
providing the Senior Citizens a platform to connect with the private enterprises for
certain positions. For this, the Ministry dedicated the SACRED portal
(http://sacred.dosje.gov.in) to the Nation on 01.10.2021 on the occasion of the
International Day of Older Persons.
ii. Action Groups Aimed at Social Reconstruction (AGRASR Groups): The Senior
Citizens are encouraged to form Self-Help Groups (SHGs), which will provide them
with a platform to share the time constructively with each other. To attain financial
assistance under the scheme SHGs will function as ‘Action Groups Aimed at Social
Reconstruction (AGRASR Groups)’.

5. Promoting Silver Economy:

 To promote out-of-the-box and innovative solutions for the commonly faced
problems, innovative start-ups will be identified and encouraged for developing
products, processes and services for the welfare of the elderly under this initiative.
The selected start-ups/start-up ideas can be provided equity support of up to Rs.1
crore per project while ensuring that the total Government equity in the start-up
should not exceed 49%.
The Government aims to achieve the objective by providing upto Rs. 1 crore as
financial assistance through equity participation, through an open invitation on a
portal namely Seniorcare Ageing Growth Engine (SAGE).

6. Channelizing CSR funds for Elderly care:

This initiative is to channelize the CSR funds in an appropriate manner for elderly
care projects. Under Schedule VII of Section 135 of the Companies Act, setting up
old age homes, day care centres and such facilities for Senior Citizens are approved
items for CSR funding.

7. National Helpline for Senior Citizen (14567)-Elderline

The Ministry has set up the National Helpline for Senior Citizen for senior citizen to
address the grievance of the elders. The helpline has been launched across the country
and has been dedicated to the Nation by the Hon’ble Vice President of India on the
occasion of the International Day for Older Persons i.e. on 01st October, 2021. The
Elder line offers services to the senior citizens through toll free number 14567.

8. Vayoshreshtha Samman- A Scheme of National Award for Senior Citizens:

National Award for Senior Citizens ‘Vayoshreshtha Sammans’ are conferred to

eminent and outstanding institutions or organizations and individuals from different
categories. The Vayoshreshtha Samman Awards are given on 1 th October every year by
Hon’ble President of India in a function organised at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. The
Awardees are given a Certificate, a Memento and also Cash Award in some of the
categories.
Schemes, Programmes, Concession and Benefits provided by other
Ministries/Department in Care of Senior Citizens:

1. Ministry of Rural Development:

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP): Under National Social

Assistance Program (NSAP) scheme, the elderly, widows, and disabled persons
belonging to Below Poverty Line (BPL) and fulfilling eligibility criteria prescribed in
the NSAP guidelines, are provided financial assistance ranging from Rs.200/- to
Rs.500/- p.m. and in the case of death of the breadwinner, a lumpsum assistance of
Rs.20,000/- is given to the bereaved family. The schemes under NSAP for elderly and
divyangs are detailed below:

a. Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS): A monthly

pension of Rs.200/- is given to elderly aged 60-79 years belonging to BPL category.
The pension increases to Rs.500/-per month upon attaining the age of 80 years. The
total beneficiaries under the scheme are 221 lakh.

b. Indira Gandhi National Disability Pension Scheme (IGNDPS): A monthly pension

of Rs.300/- is given to BPL persons aged 18-79 years with severe and multiple
disabilities (80% disability level). The pension increases to Rs.500/- per month upon
attaining the age of 80 years. The total beneficiaries under the scheme are 10.58 lakh.

2. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare:

“National Programme for the Health Care of Elderly” (NPHCE) launched during
2010-11 is State oriented program with the basic thrust to provide comprehensive and
dedicated health care facilities to the elderly persons above 60 year of age at various
level of primary, secondary and tertiary health care.

I. Primary & Secondary Geriatric Care Services : The program commenced with
100 districts in the 11th plan period. In the 12th plan period 421 districts and in 2019-
2020, 114 districts were additionally sanctioned to provide dedicated geriatric OPD,
IPD, Physiotherapy and lab services. Presently all 713 Health districts have been
sanctioned for geriatric primary & secondary care services of OPD, 10 bedded Geriatric
Ward, Physiotherapy and laboratory services.

II. Tertiary level activities of NPHCE : Renamed as ‘RashtriyaVaristh Jan

Swasthya Yojana’ in 2016-17. As on date, 19 Regional Geriatric Centres (RGCs) in
selected Medical Colleges of 18 States, are sanctioned for tertiary care service delivery
under NPHCE in the form of specialized OPD’s, 30 bedded wards in RGC including
earmarking beds in various specialties like urology, orthopedics, ophthalmology etc,
manpower development & research activities. Presently OPD services are being
provided through 18 RGCs, inpatient services in 16 RGC’s, Physiotherapy in 14 centers
& laboratory services in 13 centers.
Two National Centre for Ageing (NCA) has also been developed as centre of
Excellence for Geriatric Care services. 200 bedded NCA at Madras Medical College,
Chennai has been developed and operational for Covid ward and another NCA at
AIIMS, New Delhi is in advance state of Construction.OPD services are expected to
initiate by October 2021. A 250 Bedded Geriatric Care and Rehabilitation Centre is
sanctioned at PGI chandigarh.
3. MINISTRY OF FINANCE:

Atal Pension Yojana (APY): The Atal Pension Yojana (APY) is a Government of
India Scheme which was launched on 9th May, 2015, with the objective of creating a
universal social security system for all Indians, especially the poor, the under-privileged
and the workers in the unorganized sector. The scheme become operational w.e.f.
1st June, 2015, and is being administered by the Pension Fund Regulatory and
Development Authority (PFRDA). It is open to all citizens of India between 18-40
years of age having bank account in a bank or post-office. There are five pension plan
slabs available under the scheme namely, Rs. 1000, Rs. 2000, Rs. 3000, Rs. 4000, and
Rs. 5000 guaranteed by Government of India to the subscriber at the age of 60 years.
On death of subscriber, same pension to spouse is guaranteed by Government of India.
Further, APY is a pan India scheme open to all citizen of the country and not catering
to any specific group.

4. MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS:

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Department of Urban Development has

issued the Model Building Bye Laws, 2016 (MBBL) prescribing standards for creation
of elder friendly barrier free environment with reference to buildings, toilets etc. Urban
Local Bodies shall implement the Policy by adopting the Model Building Bye Laws,
2016. Further, under Urban Bus Specification-II issued in 2013, the emphasis on buses
financed by the Department of Urban Development is on procurement of low floor
buses with proper ramps for easy access of the passengers and proper space for
wheelchair to be placed in the bus for the benefit of disabled persons and senior
citizens. All metro rail projects implemented/under implementation in the country are
having disabled and elder friendly infrastructure such as proper ramps/lifts to the
stations. There is a provision for reservation of seats in metro rail coaches for
differently-abled persons and senior citizens. Further, Housing for All
Mission/Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana Guidelines have been circulated to State/UTs to
meet the demand of housing in their States/UTs, which interalia incorporates that
‘while making the allotment, families with senior citizens should be given priority for
allotment on ground floor or lower floors’.
 Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs is implementing the Deendayal Antyodaya
Yojana-National Urban Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NULM) with the aim to reduce
poverty and vulnerability of urban poor households on sustainable basis. The Mission,
inter-alia, aims at providing permanent shelter equipped with essential services to the
urban homeless in a phased manner under the component of Shelters for Urban
Homeless, irrespective of age.

In response to increasing vulnerability of elderly, the Ministry of SJE formulated a National

Policy on Older Persons (NPOP) in January 1999 to reaffirm its commitment to ensure the
well-being of the older persons in a holistic manner. It assures financial security through Old
Age Pension Scheme for poor and destitute older persons, better returns on earnings/savings
of people in organized sector, skill upgradation, self-employment, continued employment and
income generation. The NPOP meeting health needs of elderly through strengthening and
reorienting public health system from primary to tertiary levels, as well as implementing
health insurance. The policy ensures provision of standard institutional services for the
destitute and needy elderly. It further says that the State has to gear up security network to
save older persons from criminal offences and police is required to keep friendly vigil. It also
maintains strict and effective implementation of social legislations related to elderly. The
NPOP further describes the positive roles expected from various stakeholders like Media,
community people and mainly the family. It envisages training of human resource in geriatric
care.

In pursuance of the announcement of the National Policy, a National Council for Older
Persons (NCOP) headed by the Minister of SJE was set up to advise and aid and give
feedback to the government on implementation of the policy and programmes for older
persons. There is an inter-ministerial committee headed by the Secretary, Ministry of SJE for
monitoring and ensuring the proper implementation of the action taken on the
recommendations of NCOP. The MSJE supports programmes for the welfare of the elderly
through financial assistance to NGOs under its scheme - Integrated Programme for Older
Persons and another one is Scheme of Assistance to Panchayati Raj Institutions/VOs/ SHGs
under which funds are provided for construction of Old Age Homes.

Transgenders
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1784245