Know your Rights being a Senior Citizen

Senior citizen are the assets of today’s generation. A person is said to be “Senior citizen “ in India if he/she has completed the age of 60 years. They have worked hard all these years for the development of the nation as well as the community. They possess a vast experience in different walks of life.

The youth of today can gain from the experience of the senior citizens in taking the nation to greater heights.  Now its our duty to keep them happy. At this age of their life, they need to be taken care of and made to feel special.

To keep this view in mind,  Indian Government provides several benefits through its schemes in various sectors of development. So,  here is the list of facilities and rights given to the senior citizen by the government.

Health care:

• Cardiac problems, diabetics, kidney problems, blood pressure, joints  problems and eye problems are the most common disease from which senior citizen suffers. Many government as well as private hospitals provide concession to the senior citizen according to the programme.
• However, there is a provision for seperate queue and reservations of beds for the older patient for hospitals and nursing homes.
• Government Hospitals are a good guarantee of the right diagnosis plus they are much cheaper than private hospitals for the senior citizens.
• Assistance like wheel chair/trolleys are also provide most of the hospitals in India to the senior citizens.
• There are also specialty clinic for senior citizen which are also open on Sunday or other holidays.

Travel:

By railways

• Indian railways provide 30% concession in the fare  to all its senior citizens who are at the age of 60 or above, while the women aged 60 or above are entitled to the concession of 50% in their fare. For this, they have to carry their age proof with photo id card/certificate of date of birth while traveling.
• There is also a provision of lower berth to the senior citizen and pregnant ladies.
• There are also separate counters for  the senior citizen to book or cancel the tickets and to avoid the rush.

By air

Travel by air has become one of the most convenient way of traveling.It saves time as well as it is easy for senior citizens to reach the the destination fast.

• Indian airlines provide 50% concession on its economy class  to all its senior passengers subject to certain terms and conditions.
• Air India provides 45 % discount on its economy class foe its domestic sector senior passengers.
• Other airlines also provide the concessions to its senior passengers.
• Flight staff checks that first time flyers are aware of boarding procedures and have a comfortable flight. Senior citizens in wheelchairs are allowed to board the plane first.

Banking:

If we talk about the banking facility provide by the Indian government to its senior citizen, so here also there are many provisions such as:

• Indian government gives high rate of interest to its senior citizen on certain saving scheme which are run by the post offices and other private bank
• Some bank like State Bank of India charge only 50% of the applicable prescribed charges on the service like issue of duplicate pass book, issue of duplicate bank statement, Stop payments instructions, issue of cheque book etc.
• Minimum balance requirement for these class of customer is also 50 % from others.

Keep track of these rights by checking the official site here