AVYAY Elderly Care to Reach Cantonment Boards Under New MoU

The welfare schemes the Centre runs for older people are to be extended into a kind of area they have not covered so far: the country's cantonment towns. On 14 November 2026 the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment announced that its Department of Social Justice and Empowerment (DoSJE) will sign a memorandum of understanding with the Directorate General Defence Estates (DGDE) of the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi on Monday, 16 November. Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh and the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Dr Virendra Kumar, are to witness the signing.

What the memorandum does

The agreement sets a framework for cooperation and convergence between the two organisations so that senior citizen welfare schemes under the Atal Vayo Abhyudaya Yojana (AVYAY) can be run inside cantonment boards across the country. The arrangement puts the administrative network and the community-level presence of the boards together with the Department's scheme support, funds and technical expertise. Officials called it a whole-of-government approach to the welfare of the elderly.

What will be set up

New day care centres and related facilities for older people are to be opened in cantonment boards under AVYAY, and the day care centres the boards already run will be strengthened with the Department's support. Financial support will be given for senior citizen homes with residential capacity of 25 or 50 beds wherever that is feasible. Young people will be trained as geriatric caregivers through the Department's training and channel partners, which is meant to build a trained workforce for elderly care and open a livelihood for the trainees. Awareness camps will publicise the Ministry's schemes, with public representatives, social workers and local communities drawn in.

Why it is needed

The Ministry pointed to the arithmetic of ageing: the population aged 60 and above is projected to rise from about 10 crore in 2011 to around 23 crore by 2036. With families growing smaller and cities growing larger, day care centres and trained caregivers close to home matter more than they once did. The memorandum also builds on the Vayo Samman Rashtriya Abhiyan, a national campaign on intergenerational bonding that the Ministry launched on 4 November 2026, and a pledge on that theme is to be administered to students of schools run by cantonment boards.

The umbrella scheme

AVYAY is the Department's umbrella scheme for the welfare of senior citizens. Its components include the Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens, senior citizen homes, geriatric caregiver training, the national helpline for senior citizens known as Elderline (14567) and the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana. Also attending the signing will be Sudhansh Pant, Secretary of the Ministry, and Shobha Gupta, Director General Defence Estates.