G.O. (Ms.) No. 21, Panel Survey on Socio Economic Status of Elderly Population in Tamil Nadu, 2016

What the government approved

The Planning, Development and Special Initiatives (ST.2&E) Department, through G.O. (Ms.) No. 21 dated 27 February 2016, approved the project titled "The State of Ageing: A long Panel Study on the Health, Cognition, Financial Situation and Well-Being of the Elderly in Tamil Nadu." The project is intended to create a representative panel dataset that will help the Government of Tamil Nadu understand the needs and challenges of the growing elderly population and design policies to improve their health and well-being.

The dataset may also support separately funded experiments testing specific interventions for elderly people.

Funding and release schedule

G.O. (Ms.) No. 21 approves a total project cost of Rs.606.00 lakhs for three years under Tamil Nadu Innovation Initiatives. The approved allocation includes:

• Rs.377.00 lakhs for data collection by the Commissioner of Economics and Statistics.
• Rs.229.00 lakhs for technical advice and quality control by the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, South Asia.
• Rs.90.00 lakhs identified for release during 2015-2016, including Rs.9.97 lakhs for the Department of Economics and Statistics and Rs.80.02 lakhs for the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, South Asia.

Funding to the Institute for Financial Management and Research, which receives the grant on behalf of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, South Asia, is linked to these milestones:

• 35% upon signing in February 2016.
• 20% after piloting and finalisation of survey tools in October 2016.
• 20% after completion of the benchmark survey in April 2017.
• 20% at the start of the first survey wave in November 2018.
• 5% at the end of the first survey wave in April 2019.

Responsibilities of the organisations

The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, South Asia provides technical advice on study design, sampling, survey tools, equipment, digital data collection, piloting, training, quality checks and possible analysis. It also recommends experimental studies and small-scale interventions that could inform the Government of Tamil Nadu's ageing policy.

The Department of Economics and Statistics directly executes the project, appoints a core team and nodal officer, prepares operational plans, conducts piloting, listing and two survey waves, and establishes procedures for data collection, storage, supervision and quality control.

Relevance to property and land matters

G.O. (Ms.) No. 21 concerns statistical research and funding for an elderly population survey. It contains no provision changing land ownership, property registration, land classification, planning permission or land administration procedures.