1: Individual Financial Assistance (IFA):

Through Individual Financial Assistance (IFA) the poor, widows, destitute women, orphans and disabled persons are supported through general assistance, education, medical treatment and rehabilitation. Currently PBM is addressing 70,000 deserving beneficiaries throughout the country with annual budget of Rs 1 billion. Since inspection (1992) an amount of Rs. 5887 (m) has been disbursed. 

2: Objectives:

·         Fulfilment of immediate need of the poor

·         Medical treatment of major ailments and disabilities of the poor  patients

·         Education stipends to deserving and brilliant poor students of educational and technical institutions in the Public  Sector.

·         Economic empowerment through rehabilitation.

3: Eligibility Criteria:

·         Assistance is provided to the needy individuals on first come first basis having no support or source of income in following order of priority:-

·         Individual with major ailments / disability;

·         Students with proven and consistent track record of academic achievement; 

·         Widows with dependent children;

·         Invalid with dependent children;

·         Infirm (Senior citizens above 65);

·         Poorest of the poor who are willing to go for rehabilitation within three months; 

·         Orphans; 

·         Destitute;

·         Victims of unpredictable circumstances.

·          A person having monthly income upto Rs. 4,000/- or equivalent to the salary of Grade-I government employee will be treated as poor & is eligible for receiving financial assistance under IFA General & Rehabilitation. However due to escalation in the medicine prices/fee of govt. institutions, the criteria to determine deserving status of the applicants seeking medical treatment and education stipends will be RS. 6,000/-

·         Note: False declaration or provision of wrong information may result in recoveries and permanent ineligibility or debar from all PBM schemes.

4: Ineligible:

·         Govt. employees and their family members;   

·         Beneficiaries of other social welfare agencies;

5: Salient Features:

·         Any individual can apply for general financial assistance once a year only.  Any of the two services i.e. (i) medical treatment (ii) general financial assistance (iii) education stipend and (iv) individual rehabilitation may be granted simultaneously within a period of one year to the same applicant.  However, general financial assistance and rehabilitation cannot be combined.

6: Procedure:

·         An application can be made for any  component of financial assistance (i.e. general assistance, medical treatment, education or rehabilitation) on a plain paper along with a copy of C.N.I.C.           

·         For education stipend the applicant is required to attach a copy of certificate by the head of his educational institute.

·         The medical treatment is based on the estimate by the medical superintendent of the government hospital where the patient is admitted

·         The concerned Investigation Officer of PBM verifies the genuineness of the applicant and gives his recommendations

·         After approval of the case by the relevant authorities a crossed cheque is sent in the name of beneficiary in the cases of general financial assistance and rehabilitation; and to hospitals and educational institutions in the cases of medical treatment and education stipends

7: Financial Ceiling:

Categories                       (Amount)             Remitted to

General Assistance            60,000                   Applicant

Medical Treatment            600,000                 Hospital

Education                           60,000                   Educational Institutes  

Rehabilitation                     40,000                   Applicant

8: Disbursement since F.Y 1992-93:                                                                     (Rs. in Million)

IFA YEAR WISE DISBURSEMENT

Year

IFA General

IFA Medical

IFA Education

IFA Rehabilitation

Total Bene

Total Amount (M)

Bene.

Rs (M)

Bene.

Rs (M)

Bene.

Rs (M)

Bene.

Rs. (M)

2/1990 to 06/1990

2429

8.006

-

-

-

-

-

-

2429

8.006

92.93

10533

38.73

-

-

-

-

-

-

10533

38.730

93.94

21625

71.146

35

3.78

-

-

-

-

21600

74.926

94.95

1443

31.333

64

16.30

37

0.65

-

-

1544

48.283

95.96

117,925

251.903

879

7.03

32

0.75

-

-

118836

259.683

96-97

41653

50.485

239

6.58

720

1.03

-

-

42612

58.095

97.98

5864

45.097

618

8.81

261

0.55

-

-

6743

54.457

98.99

7254

42.217

1324

32.14

1119

2.09

-

-

9697

76.447

99.2000

1274

6.928

1186

25.324

291

0.59

-

-

2751

32.842

2000.2001

9253

19.915

1286

30.60

534

1.20

-

-

11073

51.715

2001.2002

5268

24.156

348

10.42

331

0.65

4

0.05

5951

35.276

2002.2003

11669

70.054

1155

37.94

408

1.48

1616

19.76

14878

129.234

2003.2004

14686

88.466

2274

115.72

3331

9.31

939

15.11

21230

228.606

2004.2005

19680

125.186

5336

210.45

3869

15.87

1158

16.98

30043

368.486

2005.2006

15651

237.598

8092

319.12

3931

22.83

1034

15.54

28708

595.088

2006.2007

7961

65.187

4172

191.11

1194

10.92

6875

130.99

20202

398.207

2007.2008

24748

252.204

3513

360.14

3509

50.43

11540

224.75

43310

887.524

2008.2009

8846

186.74

8888

642.86

1224

33.34

16

0.23

18974

863.144

2009.2010

29836

321.397

17301

1236.176

5641

120.96

0

0

52778

1678.535

 

357598

1936.70

56710

3254.50

26432

272.65

23182

423.41

463892

5887.284