Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot has said that the Government is planning to increase the maintenance amount for senior citizens under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007. <br/><br/>Talking to media in New Delhi yesterday, he said as per the Act, the amount of monthly maintenance for a parent or senior citizen that can be ordered by the Maintenance Tribunal as payable by children or relative cannot exceed ten thousand rupees. <br/><br/>The Minister said this is considered inadequate and hence in order to provide for a more reasonable amount of maintenance government is planning to increase the current ceiling. <br/><br/>Mr Gehlot said his ministry has got an increase of nearly 5 per cent in its budgetary allocation for the next fiscal. He said in the year 2016-17, the department has given a strong push for digital transactions.<br/><br/>He said almost 54 per cent of the budget has been spent on scholarship for Scheduled Castes and around 60 lakh beneficiaries across several scholarship schemes received this scholarship amount in digital mode. <br/>

Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Thaawarchand Gehlot today said government is planning to increase the maintenance amount for senior citizens under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (MWPSC) Act, 2007. <br/><br/>Talking to media in New Delhi today, he said as per the provisions of the MWPSC Act, the amount of monthly maintenance for a parent or senior citizen that can be ordered by the Maintenance Tribunal as payable by children or relative cannot exceed ten thousand rupees.<br/><br/>The Minister said this is considered inadequate and hence in order to provide for a more reasonable amount of maintenance government is planning to increase the current ceiling. <br/><br/>Mr Gehlot said his ministry has got an increase of nearly 5 per cent in its budgetary allocation for the next fiscal. He said in the year 2016-17, the department has given a strong push for digital transactions. He said almost 54 per cent of the budget has been spent on scholarship for Scheduled Castes and around 60 lakh beneficiaries across several scholarship schemes received this scholarship amount in digital mode. <br/><br/>The minister said the existing scheme on construction of hostels for SC girl students, under the Pradhan Mantri Vidya Shakti Yojna, will be strengthened and modified to include setting up of residential schools for SC girls studying in class VI to Class XII to reduce their dropout rate. He said priority would be initially given to educationally backward blocks. Mr Gehlot said, in order to promote inclusive education, while 70 per cent seats would be reserved for SC girls, balance would be open to girls from other communities.