By : Satyaki Paul
On June 4, 2021 the Seniorcare Ageing Growth Engine (SAGE) initiative and SAGE Portal was launched by the Ministers of the Social Justice and Empowerment (MoSJE).On June 5, 2021 the SAGE portal will be opened for applications. This project is moulded on the recommendations of the empowered expert committee (EEC) report on start-ups for elderly.
The start-ups will be carefully chosen on the foundation of innovative products and services.The start-ups should be able to provide across sectors such as health, housing, care centres, apart from technological access linked to finances, food and wealth management, and lawful guidance’s for elderly individuals. And, the SAGE portal will be a “one-stop access” of elderly care products and services by credible start-ups.
The SAGE project aims to identify, assess, authenticate, aggregate, and deliver products, solutions and services directly to the stakeholders (elderly peoples). In this context, The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment(MoSJE) will act as an implementing agency, wherein enabling the elderly individuals for direct access to the products through these identified start-ups.
According to surveys, the share of elderly populations, as a percentage of the total population in the country is expected to increase from around 7.5% in 2001 to almost 12.5% by 2026 (). Thus, in this context, there is a crucial need to create a more robust elderly care ecosystem in India, exclusivelyduring the post-COVID phase of 2022-23.
The start-ups will be selected by aself-regulating screening committee of experts. And, funds of uptoRs.1 crore as one-time equity will be granted to each selected start-up.The empowered export committee (EEC) report has emphasized that the business opportunities in this space could develop from social enterprises, technology start-ups, legal and financial services and infrastructure and managed-care systems. Furthermore, research-based organizations and incubators of social enterprises are also likely to come forward to be a part of this project. The author works as a Ph.D. Research Scholar at the Department of Anthropology, University of Calcutta, and the co-author of the book Anthropology For All (2021).