The Union government has issued a notification calling for fresh proposals to set up new Regional Resource and Training Centres (RRTCs) in 27 States and Union Territories (UTs) to act as key nodal agencies for all senior citizens care related activities, a notice made public by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment said.
Setting up of RRTCs is part of the Union government’s overarching programme to supervise and run schemes for senior citizens across the country under the Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens, which is part of the Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana (AVYAY).
Under the programme guidelines, RRTCs will be responsible for running training and awareness programmes in the States assigned to them, coordinating with the State administrations, the Union Ministry, and the National Institute of Social Defence (NISD). They will also be responsible for monitoring all senior citizen care activities in their jurisdiction and assist the State administrations in preparing their respective State Action Plans for senior citizens.
This comes even as the Union government is in the final stages of preparing a new national policy on senior citizens, with a special focus on the fact that India’s population is ageing and that the government’s projections showed that 20% of the country’s population would be senior citizens by 2047 – up from about 8% as of 2011.
