NEW DELHI: The government is planning to organise around three lakh senior citizens from deprived backgrounds in activities that will help them while they help others.The ministry of social justice and empowerment is all set to make way for organising elders into action groups aimed at social reconstruction (AGRASR groups).They will function as Elderly Self Help Groups across the country under the national action plan for senior citizens (NAPSrC).It is proposed to set up 15,000 AGRASR groups covering 3 lakh senior citizens across rural and urban areas across states and union territories in 2020-21.A national helpline to connect senior citizens to regulatory authorities and care givers is also proposed to be made functional by August this year by the ministry of social justice and empowerment (MoSJE) under this action plan.Speaking about the way forward, union social justice secretary, R Subrahmanyam said that the action plan will be rolled out from April and state level plans will also be prepared.The national action plan begins with the premise that not all senior citizens are infirm and a majority of elderly people can be contribute substantially to social causes and be great motivators.Hence the elderly SHGs will be focusing on drawing upon the human resource in the age group of 60-69 years from deprived households to form the AGRASR groups.These elderly SHGs which will be supported by the government will take up activities like helping the academically backward children in government schools by tutoring them after school hours, running creches or day care centres for children, helping the patients in nearby hospitals and adopting any social asset for upkeep with the approval of the local body.The (MoSJE) through the schemes and outreach proposed under the action plans is hoping to reach out to 1 crore senior citizens who are below poverty line and are facing deprivation. Besides the SHGs, under the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana for assisted elders it is planned to provide assistance by way of devices and home care to 1,54 lakh elders in 2020-21. The government also plans to set-up 250 new old age homes.The action plan also assigns the National Institute of Social Defence the task of capacity building to enhance availability of health and long term care giving services at home for senior citizens, palliative care training and a create a pool of health care assessors at homes or institutions.To facilitate the working of the elderly SHGs, the MoSJE will be selecting an organising agency – it will be the district national rural livelihood mission in rural areas and national urban livelihood mission in urban areas and even NGOs will be selected for the task. The AGRASR groups will work on their project for at least 4 days a week. Each group will receive an honorarium of Rs 50,000 in two installments every year. Apart from this, the institution where they are working can also give them honorarium based on their ability.To explain the need for an action plan, MoSJE in the first draft of the action plan shared in October last year put out data to emphasise on the urgency. It is estimated that 12 percent of India's population will be over 60 years by 2030 and according to the United Nations Population Fund this is expected to increase to 19.4 percent by 2050. Projections indicate that there are going to be more women than men in the 60 plus age group. Increased longevity has resulted in the rise of population above 80 years of age, which accounts for nearly 1.1 crore people. It is pointed that as the number of senior citizens increases- from 10.38 crore in 2011 to an estimated 17.3 crore in 2026 and 30 crore in 2050 – the need for programmes for welfare also increases.