‘Aasara’ Launched In All Districts In The State

Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh state government has introduced a new “Aasara” scheme since 1^st November, 2010 in all the municipalities in the state. As a part of this scheme, the associations form special groups containing 7-50 members, who are above 60 years age. The long term objective of this policy is to enable the Senior Citizens to improve their quality of life through their own associations in urban areas. The program, already being successfully implemented in Hyderabad GHMC, has been launched throughout the state.

The GHMC Aasara, a senior citizens society whose services and activities are recognized by central government, was awarded a national prize on the occasion of International elders’ day in New Delhi. Inspiring by the success of the GHMC Aasara, the state government has decided to implement the same program in all the municipalities of the state.

MEPMA (Mission for Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas), as part of Poverty reduction strategy, has decided to address the issues relating to the senior citizens. Accordingly, MEMPA has developed a strategy to support senior citizens on the name of Aasara. As part of the AASARA program, it was also decided to form the senior citizens’ associations in 22 District Head Quarter towns for extending the value addition services to the senior citizens.

The authorities identified that senior citizens form 10-15 percent of the population in municipalities in the state. The associations help the senior citizens to provide them bank linkages and loans. The associations are set to conduct frequent health camps and provide them surgeries according to the intensity of the health problem. The associations also provide the senior citizens various services such as police protection and legal services, whenever required. The government has advised all the district collectors to promote awareness among the senior citizens about the scheme by holding group meetings with 500-600 senior citizens at a place. The associations train the aged people about the issues related to their rights, responsibilities, and needs of the senior citizens. The associations have also decided to take up the town level building construction for the senior citizens.          

(This blog is the online version of "VOICE OF SENIOR CITIZENS", a bilingual (Telugu & English) monthly newspaper, published from Hyderabad).

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