New Delhi: If you live in one of five so-called disaster-prone state and want to know which government and private welfare schemes you are eligible for, help is at hand. Nokia in association with Save the Children has come up with a mobile and desktop-based platform, aimed at digitizing welfare schemes and enabling people to apply for their entitlements.
The app is part of a programme on building resilience among communities and children across five disaster-prone states—Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, it would enable any person to know about their eligibility for various government and private sector schemes through a simple one-time screening process. The program aims at strengthening access to social protection schemes with the use of technology in 350 most vulnerable villages and slums.
The program called Haqdarshak, a social protection application was launched on 31st August 2017, at the district magistrate’s office in South-East Delhi. This aims to connect 50 communities in slums across South-East Delhi with various government schemes.
“We hope that the initiative will enable the most vulnerable in Delhi to access social schemes more easily,” said B.S. Jaglan, district magistrate, South-East Delhi.
The app has been created by Haqdarshak Empowerment Solutions Private Limited for a pilot in Delhi. The app digitizes database of welfare schemes in a particular state. It is an incentive-based model, with a recruitment of 1 Haqdarshak (who shows the correct path for one’s rights) to cater to around 1,000 households. There are survey questions within the technology application, necessary for screening an individual. The software applies the rules set to tell about the eligibility of an individual to several schemes. The application has a checklist for documents, needed to apply a particular scheme.
“The long-term aim of this initiative is to ‘facilitate’ access of the schemes to the most vulnerable individuals and families, along with creating sensitivity amongst stakeholders, around the child-centered schemes and services as a part of our work on building resilience of communities by using technological solution,” said Thomas Chandy, CEO, Save the Children India.
There is a helpline for customers.
“The technology should also be used for creating and strengthening structures to make cities resilient”, said Amit Marwah, head-India marketing and corporate affairs and member CSR working committee at Nokia.