Introduction

HelpAge India is a leading registered national level NGO, established in 1978, with a mission “to work for the cause and care of disadvantaged aged persons and to improve their quality of life”. It is a secular, not-for-profit organization registered under the Societies' Registration Act of 1860. Set up in 1978, the organization works to protect the rights of India's elderly and provide relief to them through various interventions and endeavors to make significant changes in the lives of the disadvantaged older persons, so as to enable them to live better and healthier lives.

The Three Pillars of HelpAge India's work are:

1. RIGHTS: Advocacy for elder’s rights, making society aware of elder issues, and helping the elderly gain awareness of & access to their rights.
2. RELIEF: Reaching out to underprivileged elderly through services in the areas of Healthcare, Social Protection, Shelters and Disaster Mitigation.
3. RESOURCES: Raising resources to fund all services and activities from Individuals, Corporates & Business Houses, Trusts & Foundations etc.

The Concept

Blindness due to cataract presents an enormous problem in India not only in terms of human morbidity but also in terms of economic loss and social burden.

HelpAge India raise funds from various sources including Seth Madan Lal Palriwala Foundation (SMPF), to disburse the same to its partner charity eye hospitals all over India to carry out the Ophthalmic Programme thereby relieving the destitute elderly of the additional cost of bearing a cataract surgery.

It is an association of almost a decade where the SMPF has been supporter of the cause of the disadvantaged and marginalized older people. Through their support, hundreds of poor people have been helped and their dignity and independence restored. Association between SMPF and HelpAge India which was started for providing vision for poor and destitute older people in 2002-2003 has completed successful 10 years.

The Projects

SMPF and HelpAge India have taken up the following two important projects:

1 - I.O.L. Surgeries Project

Objective: The project has the following objectives:

• To restore the vision of cataract affected destitute older persons in Rajasthan by providing them IOL implantation.
• To impart ophthalmic care education to older people, patients, and families during screening camps for cataract surgeries and camps for post-operative care.

The project is aimed at achieving the goal of "Eradicating avoidable blindness from the Shekhawat region, Rajasthan by providing latest eye care services to the needy people of the area irrespective of their paying capacity."

The Beneficiaries

The people directly benefiting from the assistance of cataract operations in this project are primarily the older persons above the age of 60, who have no significant means of support and are primarily rural based coming from the low socio-economic strata of society. The benefits help the older patients becoming independent through their restoration of vision thereby undertaking supportive roles in their families by way of income generation activities, providing psychological balance to the younger groups and assisting to increase the overall social and economic security of the family. More importantly, it brings about a feeling of self-dignity, hope and enthusiasm for future life. Details of Cataract Surgeries supported by Seth Madanlall Palriwala Foundation in the year 2011-2012 are given below:

Sr. No	Camp Operation Venue	Screening Camp	Date	No. of Paitients Screened	Cataract Cases	No.of Surgeries	Male	Female	No. of Patients Examined	Male	Female
1	CHC Ajit Garh	Aneraser, Ajitgarh	12th July 2011	368	168	168	103	65	368	240	128
2	CHC Ajit Garh	Diwrala, Ajitgarh	9th August 2011	284	112	112	57	55	284	128	156
3	CHC Ajit Garh	Thoi, Ajit Garh	13th September 2011	312	119	119	66	53	312	172	140
4	CHC Ajit Garh	Triveni, Ajitgarh	11th November 2011	218	105	105	67	38	218	142	76
5	CHC Ajit Garh	Khatu Shyamji	27th September 2011	324	112	112	58	54	324	150	174
6	CHC Ajit Garh	Jhadli	8th November 2011	290	126	126	83	43	290	151	139
7	CHC Ajit Garh	Ajitgarh	23rd November 2011	372	132	132	82	50	372	205	167
8	CHC Ajit Garh	Khatu	27th December 2011	190	70	70	42	28	190	105	85
9	CHC Ajit Garh	Ajitgarh	10th January 2012	178	56	56	45	11	178	82	96
TOTAL				2536	1000	1000	603	397	2536	1375	1161

 

The table below shows year wise details of Beneficiaries under the project.

Year	Purpose	No Of Beneficiaries
2002-2003	IOL (Rajasthan)	375
		375
2003-2004	IOL (Rajasthan)	125
2005-2006	IOL (Rajasthan)	57
		350
2006-2007	IOL (Rajasthan)	400
		500
		137
2007-2008	IOL (Rajasthan)	300
2008-2009	IOL (Rajasthan)	300
2009-2010	IOL (Rajasthan)	500
2010-2011	IOL (Rajasthan)	500
2011-2012	IOL (Rajasthan)	1000

I.O.L. Surgery in progress
Beneficiaries of I.O.L. Surgeries

2 - 'Adopt A Gran' (AAG) Scheme

SMPF has been providing help & support to individual elderly persons through HelpAge India under ‘Adopt A Gran’ (AAG) Scheme and 26 elderly persons are looked after under AAG to meet their specific needs aimed at bringing cheer in their life. This is also a continuous activity carried forward on year to year basis.

Objective: The project has the objective to subsidize the basic needs of 26 older persons in Rajasthan

Project beneficiaries

The older persons who are poor and are living a very difficult life, without any support system for them. These are the older people, who are neglected and ignored by society and are not in a position to provide themselves with two square meals a day, not to mention the basic health/hygiene and linen benefits.

3- In addition to the above mentioned regular and continuing 2 projects, SMPF provided livelihood assistance in collaboration with HelpAge India to 100 needy elderly peoples in the Tsunami affected Pulicat region of Thiruvallur District in Tamil Nadu during August 2006 to enable them to take up income generation activities such as petty shops, fish vending, dry fish selling, food stalls, preparation of snacks etc. Some beneficiaries utilized the money for purchasing nets & repairing their boats. The beneficiaries constitute 50% men and 50% women.

Shri G.N. Palriwala, Chairman, SMPF listening to old aged persons under ‘Adopt-A-Gran’ Scheme.