Agartala, Aug 06: As many as 3,89,439 beneficiaries are presently receiving social pensions in Tripura under 31 state-sponsored and three centrally-sponsored schemes, an official said on Saturday.

Additional director of Social Welfare and Social Education- L. Hrangchal in a press conference said, 1,58,197 beneficiaries are receiving the pensions under the central scheme and 2,31,242 are receiving the benefits under the state schemes. 

The figures included 15,371 pensioners from the PWD category, he said, adding that during the last two years, the department sanctioned pensions for 33,085 new beneficiaries under MSAP and state-run social pension schemes. Besides, 10 Pradhan Samamatis are also getting monthly pension of Rs 2000.
 
He also said, the Department of Social Welfare and Social Education is currently running 40 Child Care Institutions in Tripura; 19 are government-run and the remaining 21 are run by the NGOs. The number of children accommodated in such homes is 887.
 
Speaking on other achievements and future plans of the department, the additional director said, the state government launched the "Tripura Policy for Empowerment of Women, 2022" for holistic empowerment of the women in the state.

The major Initiatives and programmes prescribed in the policy included 33 per cent women reservation in all state government jobs and outsourced manpower, reservation for women as per gender ratio in all higher educational institutions, 50 per cent reservation for women in government market stalls and shopping complexes, setting up of 13 Women Health and Wellness Centres (WHWC) with Integrated One Stop Centres(OSCs), setting up of a 25-bedded Half-way home for recuperated mental health patients, setting up of at least three Old Age Homes for indigent women senior citizens and setting up of 4 new working women hostels.
 
Besides, for providing 24 hours immediate and emergency response to women affected by violence through referral and information about women-related government schemes, a women helpline number '181' has been set up in the state which is linked with ERSS-112.

He also announced that a Senior Citizen Helpline was all set to come up in the state by August.

“The Senior Citizen Helpline project has been taken up by Alankit Assignment Ltd in collaboration with the National Institute of Social Defense (NISD) and the agency has completed the setup of the Institute at Melarmath, Aganala. The trial run of the project has been successful. Now, the Helpline is ready for launching,” he said.