Govt launches Pan-India helpline for senior citizens

Taking note of the growing need to support India’s elderly population, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has launched the first Pan-India toll-free helpline – 14567. This helpline, dubbed as the ‘Elder Line’, is aimed at providing senior citizens and/or their well-wishers with a single-point platform to connect and address their concerns, get information on problems they face daily.

“The intent of ‘Elder Line’ is to provide all senior citizens, or their well-wishers, with ONE platform across the country to connect and share their concerns, get information and guidance on problems that they face on a day-to-day basis, without having to struggle for it,” the official release on the matter read. This helpline also provides free guidance on pension-related concerns, legal issues, extends emotional support and even intervenes in cases of abuse and rescues homeless senior citizens.

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Elder Line is an initiative taken by Tata Trusts, philanthropy division of the Tata Group along with its partner Vijayavahini Charitable Foundation. Till date, 17 states have already opened the Elder Line and others are in the pipeline. Over 2 lakh calls have been attended and 30,000 seniors have already been attended over the last 4 months. Of these calls, 40 per cent were related to guidance on COVID-19 vaccine while nearly 23 per cent were related to pension.

The initiative is significant in India as the country is likely to have ~20 per cent elderly population or more than 30 crore senior citizens by 2050. People in this age group face several mental, emotional, financial, legal and physical challenges and the pandemic has exacerbated these challenges.

Edited by Mehak Agarwal

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