Ration Service For Poor Senior Citizens

Households headed by senior citizen have a poverty ratio of 20.0% as per the estimate of the Planning Commission. India has very little social security in place for senior citizens. Pension coverage is as low as 11% of the entire workforce. About 65% of the aged in India depend on others for their day-to-day maintenance.

Dignity Foundation supports indigent senior citizens in Mumbai, Bengaluru and Pune by providing a month’s worth of basic dry provisions to the very poor senior citizens who cannot fend for themselves. Senior Citizens call on Dignity Helpline or come and meet in person for ration support. Dignity Foundation also reaches out to the slum localities through the Dignity on Wheels outreach programme and with the help of volunteers.

The Ration project takes off after a physical verification of the genuineness of the case by a Social Worker. Once a beneficiary if enrolled in the programme, they receive ration month after month, without fail.

An Elderly Widow’s story

Smt. Savita Bhawanji Parmar is a 76 year old senior citizen. She is a widow and has an unmarried daughter. Her husband passed away 30 years back and since then she and her daughter have been trying to make a living. Her daughter, Bharti, unfortunately is handicapped and yet she works as a domestic worker in homes so that she can support herself and her mother. Savita was finding it difficult to lead a life of dignity in a world where prices of commodities are skyrocketing.

Bharti came to know about Dignity Foundation through one of the volunteers of Dignity in her area and approached Dignity for help. Dignity sent a volunteer for a home visit to understand her situation and ascertain their condition. Looking at their condition, Savita was enrolled in the Ration Programme, which provides basic staples for a whole month. Savita is now not worried about her day to day existence and can live on with grace. Her daughter continues to work as a domestic worker.