For any economic activity or social group to develop and flourish, the fundamental prerequisite is to have a proper and adequate ecosystem. The word “ecosystem” here means existence of all requirements that are conducive for growth of any species or activity or system.
Senior citizens in India (60 plus age group) numbering around 130 million comprise about 10 percent of total population. This population has its own unique problems, aspirations and issues. These are the people who had committed a significant quantum of their productive life for cause of the nation. Having retired from active life, they are usually devoid of any productive engagement. Simultaneously, falling health, depleting financial resources and anxiety arising out of loneliness add to their problems. They often feel isolated at homes, do not have many friends, lack community support, and forced to stay aloof from busy schedule of life. What they need is an assurance from rest of society that “we care for them” and that they will be allowed to lead a happy, contented and dignified life. That does not often happen because of absence of support system.
It is in this context that there is an urgent need to create an appropriate ecosystem for elderly to live a happy life.
Contours of an Appropriate Ecosystem:
Policy Dimensions:
The first policy for senior citizens came in 1999 to coincide with international year declaration by the United Nations. The next comprehensive policy was announced in 2011. The draft policy (2020) contains further modifications and enhancements of care towards various issues of elderly.
However, the situation appears not so convincing. Our discussions with a number of senior citizens at various levels including office bearers of senior citizen associations reveal that awareness of the policy at ground level is extremely poor. Elders are neither aware of their rights nor mechanism to redress their grievances. Further, many policy measures have remained as mere announcements without being implemented. One reason for poor implementation is due to responsibilities being outsourced to several ministries at the central government as well as state government and lack of congruence of thoughts. Budgetary support towards meeting the measures has also been inadequate. Finally, there are very few instances of social audit to assess impact of all the measures.
We recommend that the government of India should have a separate ministry dedicated to elderly people. It is also high time that the new draft policy is modified in consultation with people on the ground to make it more practical and implemented with right earnest through right implementing agencies including social organizations. Adequate thought should be given to enhance pension as well as introduce comprehensive medical insurance for elderly.
Legal Framework:
To provide effective remedies for maintenance support and welfare of parents and senior citizens, there is a comprehensive legal framework known as The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007.
According to this Act, parents mean biological, adoptive, and stepparents, and age of parents is irrelevant to claim maintenance. This means that benefits of maintenance are available to all parents irrespective of age. Adult children and adult grandchildren are legally obligated to pay maintenance; the amount is determined by claimant's needs so that the older person can lead an everyday life. If children intentionally abandon the parent, they are liable to pay a fine of Rs. 5,000/- or face imprisonment for three months or both.
Further, if children or relatives are not maintaining their parents, they can seek assistance of the Tribunal constituted under this Act to enforce remedy of maintenance. If the Tribunal is satisfied that there is neglect, it may order the children / relatives to give a monthly allowance of up to Rs10,000/-. A childless senior can claim the same against his / her relatives, who inherit his / her property.
The Act also directs state government to establish old age homes in every district at those places where it deems necessary. Besides maintenance, the Act provides for care, welfare and protection of elderly people, which are more essential during this age. The legislation is thus a comprehensive law and directs to address grievances of the old-aged persons.
However, at the ground level there are several issues like lack of awareness, lack of implementation, slow process of justice, among many others.
It is recommended that the Act may be made more senior citizen friendly. And also, special courts may be set up for disposal of cases related to senior citizens. Time limit of say, 3 months may also be prescribed for disposal of cases.
Role of Family:
Family plays a big role in taking care of elderly. There should be comprehensive counselling / training sessions for family members to ensure that they look after elderly persons fondly and with empathy & proper understanding. A little bit extra & loving care would be more than adequate to take care of elder issues.
Creating Elder Friendly Infrastructure:
All infrastructural facilities including roads, railways, airports, etc. should be totally elder friendly with proper mechanism of control so that elderly people with physical disabilities find it easy to move around. Similarly, all types of home settings for elderly must mandatory be made elder friendly like brighter light, elder support in washrooms / bedrooms, provisions of proper lifts, etc.
Geriatric Support System:
All hospitals, both in public as well a private sector, should have a geriatric division manned by a geriatric medical practitioner. Similarly, all hospitals as well as senior homes must have the services of trained geriatric counsellors. One member from each family should also be trained in geriatric counselling.
Senior Homes:
Considering large population of senior citizen in the country, there should be senior homes in each district (at least 1 home for 1000 senior citizens). These should be professionally managed with provisions of free / discounted pricing for needy elderly. There should also be dedicated senior homes from elderly suffering from mental issues particularly Alzheimer’s / Dementia.
Conclusion:
Some of the provisions above are already mentioned in the existing policy guidelines but do not exist on ground because of inadequacy of implementation. Need of the hour is to plug loopholes and create necessary infrastructural and legal ambience that are essential for ideal living for elderly. This will definitely propel an attempt to create a proper & adequate ecosystem for elderly to live happily.
