The government of India has always treated senior citizens with special care and facilities. There have been many schemes and policies made for them. The policies are made readily available to the citizens by the use of an important document known as a senior citizen identity card. This card is also an important document that acts as a proof in various other schemes too. The identity card is widely accepted by some state governments and the central government. Although the procedure used to seem little inconsiderate, considering they have to take multiple trips to the office, which turned out to be tiresome. To relieve this problem, many steps have been made.

Steps were taken to improve the application process: 

To improve the application process, it has been made a point to bring the process online where it can be easily accessible to the senior citizens. This process saves a lot of physical struggle that comes along with the offline process. The process is more natural as the website has also been designed in such a way that it makes it more comfortable to be understood by the senior citizens. Therefore they can apply for their top senior citizen card themselves.

Eligibility criteria 

For anyone to be eligible to apply for an identity card, few things have to be strictly met to consider the person eligible for the benefits that come along with the senior citizen card. Some of the criteria are as follow:

1. The person applying for the card should be above 60 years of age with a valid government proof proving the same.
2. The person needs to be a permanent citizen of the state they are getting the senior citizen card benefit from.

If these simple eligibility criteria are satisfied, the senior citizen identity card is issued quickly.

Documents to be submitted:

Certain documents are required to be submitted along with the form. They are:

• Age proof is any document that is issued by the government showing the date of birth of the citizen.
• The relevant document is the proof of residence issued by the state to the individual by corresponding state officials.

The documents can be submitted through offline mode or via scanned copies online, which are uploaded along with the form.

The process of applying for the senior citizen identity card:

The process is simple, hassle-free, and accessible in the online mode. To apply online, some easy steps have to be followed, such as :

1. Visit the official website of the state where an individual is an official resident. After visiting a website, the link has to be opened, saying “ apply for senior citizen card.”
2. The online portal opens where the individual first has to sign up to carry on with the process.
3. After signing up, an individual is supposed to log in to the website and start filling the form.
4. All the initials and details asked in the form must be filled and correct to the knowledge.
5. The agreed terms and conditions have to be done after reading them correctly.
6. The scanned copy of documents has to be uploaded in the required size, as asked by the website.
7. After the documents are uploaded, click on submit. The application is successfully submitted.

The process is usually cost-free if done in an offline mode, but it takes many trips down the offices, which are tiring for older people. The only process requires money, depending upon the state. The amount is not much. This, although makes the process easier. The payment portal opens up where an individual can pay for their form via debit card, credit card, or net banking. All this makes the payment method easier and according to the convenience.