THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan announced a 10-point programme on New Year. The highlight is the doorstep delivery of five government services for the elderly. They include mustering, life certificate, social security pension enrolment, Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) assistance and supply of life-saving drugs. A system will be launched for people who have difficulty in applying for government services online, the chief minister said on Friday.
Local self government institutions will collect applications from their homes with the help of volunteers. The LSGs will hand over the details of people aged above 65 living without the support of younger ones and differentlyabled people to the volunteers. The volunteers will visit their homes to enquire whether they need doorstep delivery of services. This programme will begin on January 15.
A programme titled eminent Scholars Online will be launched for degree and PG students in colleges and universities. This will be an online interaction programme involving international economists, social scientists and linguistic experts. Besides, Rs 1 lakh will be given to 1,000 poor but meritorious students who complete degree education.
The family’s annual income should be below Rs 2.5 lakh to get the assistance. Under the programme to ensure safety of women and children, the government has decided to double the number of school counsellors from the current 1,024 to address the issue of suicides among children. Local self-government institutions will arrange counselling also for parents at the block level twice a month. One teacher will be assigned to mentor 20 students in schools.