Now, Krishna Byre Gowda woos the old…

The Bangalore South Youth Forum organised a dialogue in Jayanagar recently between the senior citizens of Bangalore South and Mr. Krishna Byre Gowda, the Congress Candidate from the same constituency. About 75 senior citizens attended and participated in the dialogue.
The puspose of the event was to give the Senior Citizens an opportunity to get to know their candidate, provide them with a platform where they could voice their concerns and needs so that if elected, Krishna could use these to inform his policy endevours, and, release a manifesto that recorded the specific actions Krishna would undertake with regard to Senior Citizens if elected.
 Addressing the gathering, Krishna said, "Often in our hurry to live our lives, elderly people are overlooked. It behooves us to see that we provide them with the necessary conveniences and facilities that would make their lives easier and safer. Some examples would be to create easy access to public areas, leveling footpaths, better geriatric health care, etc."
 While speaking about how the elderly population is an extremely important part of his existing MLA constituency, he spoke about how he had driven the exercise of enabling 8000 senior citizens to receive their pensions at their door-steps for the very first time.
 Noting that healthcare was a major concern of the elderly, Krishna said that he was committed to improving geriatric, palliative and non-hospice health care for senior citizens.

 In a similar vein, Krishna also spoke about the responsiveness of the Congress government at the centre to the needs of the elderly by describing the Yashaswini Health Insurance Scheme, which offers broad coverage micro health insurance to people, irrespective of their age. Most ailments and treatments (including medication and surgery) are covered under this programme and the premium is as low as Rs. 240 per annum.
Manifesto
1. Health care - Work towards creating a geriatric health and palliative care centre.
2. Safety – Create a separate monitoring cell within the police force to address the safety needs of the elderly.
3.  Area Watch Committees – Involve Youth in the creation of local groups that monitor the well being of the elderly, especially those who live alone.
4. Parks – Create separate, elder friendly areas within parks for the elderly to enjoy and congregate at.
5. Pensions – Facilitate easy, efficient and user-friendly disbursement of pensions.
6. Senior Citizen Advisors – Create advisory groups of senior citizens based on an appreciation for their experience and wisdom and engage them in decision making on policy issues.
7. Help inculcate a sense of respect, responsibility and awareness among society towards the needs of the elderly.
8. Dignity – Ensure that the dignity of elders is never compromised and is a way of practice among all government and quasi government bodies.
9. Comfort – Ensure the comfort of senior citizens in all public spaces such as government offices and public transport.
10. Explore subsidized communication facilities for the elderly.
11. Increase awareness on and efficiency of facilities already available for the elderly – hotlines, travel concessions, etc.
12. Create dedicated counters and staff within the City Municipal Corporation to address the needs of the elderly – tax, bills, etc.