HelpAge India

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HelpAge India
Type 12A, 80G
Founded 1978
Founder(s) Mr. Jackson Cole, Samson Daniel
Headquarters
Area served India
Focus(es) Helping the Elderly
Motto Fighting isolation, poverty, neglect
Website HelpAge India

HelpAge India is a secular, apolitical, non-profit and a non-governmental organisation in India registered under the Societies' Registration Act of 1860. Set up in 1978,[1] HelpAge India is a registered national level voluntary organisation. Since its foundation, its mission is to work for the cause and care of disadvantaged older persons, in order to improve the quality of their lives.[2]

HelpAge India is one of the founding members of HelpAge International,[3] a high profile body having 97 member countries representing the cause of the elderly at the United Nations. It is closely associated with Help the Aged, UK[4] and has received a special testimonial from the United Nations for "Dedicated service in support of the United Nations Programme on Ageing".[5] HelpAge India is also a full member of the International Federation on Ageing.[6]

History

HelpAge India began the late 1960s when the speaker of the Lok Sabha visited his counterpart in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, who was also honorary secretary of Help the Aged. He came back with a vision of setting up something similar in India.

But it took seven years for this vision to take shape. In March 1974, when Jackson Cole, founder of HelpAge International visited India, Samson Daniel, a philanthropist, approached him for financial help to set up a member organisation in Delhi. Cole instead offered to train him to raise funds. After a three month training course in London, Daniel and his wife returned to India and organised a sponsored walk with schoolchildren in Delhi. It was so successful that in 1975 HelpAge International recruited more staff to cover Bombay, Madras and Calcutta.

In April 1978, HelpAge India was registered in Delhi. Within three months it became autonomous as financial support ceased from UK. Soon after, in July, the society was awarded Certificates of Exemption under Sections 12A and 80G of the Income Tax Act, 1961, thus indicating general confidence in the society’s affairs.[7]

Approach

HelpAge India works in the following areas:[8]

  • Elderly rights - Elder Abuse in India, Reverse Mortgage, Senior Citizens Associations (SCAs), Ending Isolation, Health Insurance, Parents Maintenance Act, Union Budget Allocation, National Policy on Older Persons
  • Eldercare - Healthcare, Social Protection, Shelters, Specialized Care, Disaster, Mitigation
  • Supporters - Individual Volunteering, Corporates & Business houses, Trusts & Foundations, Bi-Lateral & Multi-Lateral Funders

Funders

Some of HelpAge's biggest programmes are funded by the European Union, Disasters Emergency Committee (UK), Department for International Development (UK), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), US Agency for International Development, Japan Foundation, HelpAge International and Cordaid.[9]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.helpageindia.org/about-us/history.html
  2. ↑ http://www.helpageindia.org/our-work.html
  3. ↑ http://www.helpage.org/tags/india/
  4. ↑ http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/208415/Help-Aged-launches-campaign-Indias-poor/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH
  5. ↑ http://www.helpage.org/who-we-are/our-history/
  6. ↑ http://www.helpageindia.org/faqs.html
  7. ↑ http://www.helpageindia.org/about-us/history.html
  8. ↑ http://www.helpageindia.org/pdf/helpage_indiabrochure.pdf
  9. ↑ http://www.helpageindia.org/our-work/5.html

External links

Others

HelpAge India in Top ten NGO in 2013 by MaStyle Care : http://www.slideshare.net/mastylecare/top-ten-ngo-in-india-mastyle-care

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