The state pension system has improved tremendously, ac-cording to the Human Ser-vices Minister.
The Government Informa-tion Agency (GINA) said Minister of Human Services and Social Security Priya Manickchand told the National Assembly on Monday that her ministry performed well last year and there were remarkable improvements in several areas. Manickchand said her plans for the ministry this year include establishing a single parent fund; setting up a comprehensive child protection strategy to implement a foster care programme to address the needs of orphans and vulnerable children, and a national campaign to advance the fight against domestic violence.
The 2008 budget that Minister of Finance Dr Ashni Singh presented on February 22 allocated the following sums for the human services ministry:
$2.5B for old age pension that will benefit 35,000 persons over the age of 65; $810M for the public assistance targeting 15,000 beneficiaries; $120M to offset the cost of water charges on behalf of the elderly; $100M to set up the single parent fund; $50M for the provision of spectacles to persons in need; $110M to upgrade the Palms and meet operational costs. These plans will ensure services are provided to over 50,000 pensioners and public assistance recipients, Singh said.
Manickchand told the House that the Old Age Pension Programme has benefited a substantial number of persons and the $2.5B allocated to this group is an increase of over $1.3B from last year. This will allow about 35,000 senior citizens to receive a total of $6,000 monthly and recipients of public assistance will get $4,500. She said the pension system has improved tremendously. “We recognize(d) that there were some issues with regard to pensioners receiving their pensions on time, however, those have been corrected and now pensioners receive their pension books the previous year, in advance.”
Manickchand also said of the more than 15,000 persons who benefited from public assistance last year; two-thirds were children. This year’s increase, by 83%, will allow another $15,000 people to benefit. The minister said too in March 2007, Mission Child Protection which was aimed at addressing the needs of children who dwell on the streets picked up 120 children; 42 of whom are still in the ministry’s care.
“This year we will craft a Child Protection Services Unit that will be an umbrella body to deal with all issues relating to child protection,” Manickchand said, adding that this year’s budgetary allocation will be used to start the foster care programme and to finalise the regulations and minimum standards for orphanages.
