Berhampur: In a significant move, the Orissa government has decided to provide monthly pension to the HIV positive persons under the state-sponsored 'Madhu Babu Pension Yojana' from this month, official sources said.
Orissa is perhaps the first state in the country to provide such monthly benefit to the HIV positive persons.
Altogether 6,132 HIV positive persons in the state, irrespective of their age and earning condition, would benefit under the scheme in the first phase.
The maximum beneficiaries would be Drom Ganjam district where the number of the affected persons was also highest in the state.
Parameswar Swain, project director of the Orissa State AIDS Control Society, said under the scheme, every HIV-positive person detected would get Rs 200 per month.
The government has also decided to provide widow pension to the wife of the HIV-positive person after his death in the top most priority, he said.
