Senior citizen’s homes in India -A bane or boon? The elders live in constant worry related to three matters, viz., deceases, poverty and loneliness. There is no escape from the first problem because, it is the result of natural process of aging, The second problem is either due to poverty or poor financial management during earning time that has resulted in the absence of saved funds or income yielding investment in the sunset years and the third problem is either due to loss of spouse or NRI children or deliberate abandonment by the children. The number of 60 plus population in India 1851 21millions 1981 43millions 1991 54.7millions 2001 76millions 2025(projected) 117 millions The growing number of the elders has become a development issue due to the social and economic cost involved in taking care of the elders. It is true that taking care of the old parents and grandparents is the immediate responsibility of the family. But the changes in the social circumstances due to the spread of the global village concept has made the care of the elders by the family very difficult .The joint family system which has taken care of the elders, widows and orphans had disappeared in India due to migration of the children necessitated by economic compulsions. Government of India passed Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 to ensure that families do not shirk the responsibility of care of older persons and for the very poor and destitute older persons, it has provision for building old age homes, at least one in each district in the country. I only wish that future generations will continue to care for the elderly to prevent them from facing isolation and loneliness in this fast paced society
Posted on: Wed, 04 Sep 2013 04:00:51 +0000
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