Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens (IPSrC)

What is the Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens?

Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens (IPSrC) is a Central Sector component of Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana, the umbrella senior citizens scheme of the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. IPSrC provides grant-in-aid to implementing agencies, state and union territory governments, Panchayati Raj institutions, urban local bodies and registered voluntary organisations, for running and maintaining facilities that improve the quality of life of older people.

According to the department's senior citizens portal, IPSrC exists to provide basic amenities and active-ageing opportunities to indigent senior citizens. In an IPSrC-supported home, shelter, nutrition, medicare and recreation are given free of cost to the sanctioned residents. The ministry has reported grants to 639 projects under the programme.

IPSrC is the largest and oldest of the AVYAY components. Readers looking for the free assistive devices component should read Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana instead.

What projects are funded under IPSrC?

The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment lists these project types with minimum beneficiary numbers.

1. Senior Citizens' Home (SrCH-25). A home for a minimum of 25 senior citizens, providing food, shelter, care and recreation free of cost.

2. Senior Citizens' Home for Women (SrCH-50), a home for 50 elderly women, run on the same free-of-cost basis.

3. Continuous Care Home (CCH), for a minimum of 20 senior citizens who are seriously ill or have mild to severe disability and need continuous nursing care. This category includes homes for persons affected by Alzheimer's disease and dementia.

4. Physiotherapy Clinic, covering a minimum of 50 senior citizens per month.

5. Mobile Medicare Unit; covering a minimum of 400 senior citizens per month with at least 10 trips a month into rural and inaccessible areas. The department has recorded periods in which no new mobile medicare unit projects were sanctioned, so check the current year's advertisement before proposing one.

Who is eligible for the Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens?

IPSrC is an institutional grant scheme, so eligibility is about organisations, not individuals.

Organisations that can apply:

• State and union territory governments, Panchayati Raj institutions and urban local bodies.
• Registered NGOs and voluntary organisations — societies, public trusts and Section 8 companies. The ministry requires that the organisation has been registered for at least two years and has at least two years' experience in the social sector at the time of applying.
• District-level hospitals and organisations with a credible record in charitable healthcare, for the medicare-related project types.

Senior citizens who benefit:

• Indigent senior citizens aged 60 and above who need shelter, nutrition and medical care, admitted as residents of a sanctioned home.
• Elderly people with Alzheimer's, dementia or serious illness, through a continuous care home.

Who cannot apply:

• Individual senior citizens cannot apply for IPSrC. There is no personal application form, no beneficiary registration and no bank transfer. A senior citizen who needs a place in a home approaches the running organisation or the district social welfare office, not the ministry.
• Unregistered bodies, individuals and for-profit companies are not eligible for grant-in-aid.
• Organisations registered for less than two years, or without two years of social-sector experience, are not eligible.
• A home that charges sanctioned residents is not eligible to continue drawing grant-in-aid, since the facilities must be free of cost.

What documents are required for IPSrC?

How to apply for IPSrC grant-in-aid

Only organisations apply. The route is online.

1. Watch for the ministry's advertisement inviting applications under IPSrC for the financial year, published on socialjustice.gov.in and the grants portal.
2. Register your society, trust or Section 8 company on the ministry's NGO grants portal at grants-msje.gov.in and complete the organisation profile, including governing body and bank account details.
3. Select the Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens and choose the project type: SrCH-25, SrCH-50, continuous care home, or physiotherapy clinic, with the number of beneficiaries proposed.
4. Upload the registration certificate, audited accounts, annual reports and the project proposal showing premises, staffing and running costs.
5. Submit the application for recommendation by the state government and the district collector, a required stage before the ministry considers it.
6. Track sanction and release of grant-in-aid through your portal login, and file utilisation certificates for each released instalment before the next one can be claimed.

How does a senior citizen get a place in an IPSrC home?

1. Ask the district social welfare officer for the list of IPSrC-supported homes in the district.
2. Approach the running organisation directly with age proof and evidence of indigence.
3. If you cannot find a home or are refused, call Elderline 14567, which maintains information on shelter and old age homes.

Help and grievance redressal

• Elderline national helpline: 14567, for senior citizens seeking a place in a home or complaining about one.
• Grants portal: grants-msje.gov.in, for organisations tracking a grant-in-aid application.
• District Social Welfare Officer, for the local list of sanctioned homes and for complaints about conditions inside one.

An IPSrC-funded home cannot charge a sanctioned resident, and no agent can charge a fee to get a senior citizen admitted.