Kerala once again leading the Nation

Gopakumar M.

Senior Superintendent,

LSGD Principal Directorate

“Service to mankind is the best form of worship” -Mahatma Gandhi

The Government of Kerala has recognised that the services required for the safe life are often not available for some people and a marginalised section of the society is left behind. In Kerala ,about 13% of the population is elderly , about 7.5% of the population is bed ridden patients and people with deadly diseases and about 2.4% of the population is differently abled and about 2% is extremely poor .These sections of the population are often without access to essential services in a timely manner. To the people who are disadvantaged due to various reasons such as old age, serious illness, extreme poverty , lack of knowledge and other helpless conditions and do not get proper government services , the Government of Kerala has started DOORSTEP SERVICE DELIVERY ( Vathilppadi Sevanam ) project with the aim of carrying out activities under the supervision of Local Self Government Institutions and with the help of volunteers to deliver the services in a timely manner.

T he meeting on 18.01.2021 chaired by the Chief Minister of Kerala , Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan, discussed the procedures regarding the implementation of the project. According to the decision of the said discussion, the Government has issued the guidelines regarding the implementation of the project . .

5 services are included as the first phase of the project. Most of these services are available through Akshaya Kendras, but the scheme aims to help those who cannot reach the Akshaya Kendras in time due to physical disabilities or old age.

1. Mustering

T he Local bodies have implemented the system of going to homes to conduct the mustering for pensioners who are suffering from physical disabilities or old age. The project is in a way that the Local Bodies will bear the additional fees that have to be paid in Akshaya Kendras.

2. Life Certificate

T he project envisages to get life certificate for those who cannot do mustering through biometric system by bringing them to the concerned Officer or bringing the Officer to the beneficiaries’ house with the help of volunteers.

3. Social Security Pension

It is envisaged that the volunteers or the concerned persons of the Akshaya Kendra , go to the beneficiaries house with a laptop and upload the completed application through online or submit the application directly to the Local Self Government Institutions.

4. CMDRF

Assistance from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund – It is envisaged that the volunteers or the concerned persons of the Akshaya Kendra ,go to the beneficiaries house with a laptop and submit the application through online.

5. Life Saving Medicines

T he project aims to find money to buy medicine for those who are unable to buy medicine and deliver the medicine to their home or deliver the medicine to their home from Palliative or NCD Clinics.

Beneficiaries

T he beneficiaries are mainly those who are included in the list prepared by the Local Bodies including the extreme poor, social security pension beneficiaries, family of children coming to BUDS school, vayomitram beneficiaries and other eligible persons identified through Grama Sabha, Ward Sabha or Ward Council . his list is a Dynamic Database.

The Local bodies have implemented the system of going to homes to conduct the mustering for pensioners who are suffering from physical disabilities or old age.

A committee including the LSGI secretary, health inspector or health supervisor, SHO of the concerned Police Station, VEO , ICDS Supervisor, representative of Akshaya Kendra, representative of palliative Committee, representative of elderly, representative of the organisations and institutions and representative of the prominent persons of the society will co-ordinate the activities. An official from the LSGI is the Co-Ordinator , a dedicated volunteer is the general convenor and the representative of Akshaya Kendra is the joint convenor of the Committee

Finance

A separate joint account must be opened in favour of the President/Chairperson/Mayor and the Co-Ordinator . Local bodies can make special fund collection for this purpose and deposit in the joint account. More over LSGI’s has the power to formulate special projects for doorstep service delivery. For that Grama Panchayath can utilise up to one lakh rupees , municipalities can utilise up to 2 lakhs and municipal corporation can utilise up to 5 lakhs rupees from their fund. In addition to that CSR fund , Sponsorship, Donations etc can also be used for the project. Special guidelines have been issued on financialmatters .T he Government decided to include more services and to include more beneficiaries from different sectors by elaborating the project in the second phase. In this scheme we can see the will power of the State Government to fulfil the goal that , there should not be a single person who faces delay in accessing government services.

The Government decided to include more services and to include more beneficiaries from different sectors by eloborating the project in the secone phase.

T his is just a beginning…… Long way to go….