Daily living expenses and other maintenance expenses of the Elderly in
the present fast changing world is not discussed anymore. Access to
medical facilities 0f the lowest order, protection of life and property is left at the
mercy of insurance companies and market forces. Access to old-age homes is left to
the mercy and kindness of the divinity of the building mafia.
The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007
covers
- Maintenance can be filed by senior citizens above 60 years of age unable to
maintain themselves from children or relatives who have inherited or, are in
possession of the property of the elders. - Maintenance application can be filed by the senior citizen or by any
other person authorised by her/him if unable to do so. - The Maintenance Application can be filed in the local district court.
- Proceedings to conclude within 90 days of service of the application.
Senior citizens who have neither landed property nor savings despite long years of
work are simply unproductive, useless so they do not find mention of any security in
this Act.
It is necessary to understand that we are merely placing the facts together in search of
solutions.
In the development sector it is an accepted fact that – ‘people born on the pavement
will die on the pavement, destitute’ – accursed because the survival of the
government and its representatives and their relatives and their relatives complete
with salaries, benefits, pensions, dearness allowance and freebies/ feed on
government largesse for which theare is no official budget sanction but only
precedenrs.
But whose job is this any way?
A story of Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody.
“There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody
could have done it, but Nobody did it. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that
Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up when Nobody did what Anybody could have”
Credit: Guruji Ravi Ranjan Singh-ji – Sober India/
We talk big about improving the lives of senior citizens but nothing has made any
difference to this day. The condition of lady senior citizens is pitiable, miserable.
Working senior citizens is an indication of poverty levels and the compulsions that
drive a person to work to her/his very last day in order to exist and it also serves to
remove a large financial liability from the government for use in other less important
past-times. Women in India must work right up to the last moment.
The old are marginal, backyard people is the concept on which we initiate all
proceeding concerning senior citizens and a live, conscious categorization as
redundant.
This is how government development programmes view senior citizens. All talk is lip
service meant to bulldoze questions and arguments. Universally, development work
concerning senior citizens is what goes into my pockets.
Senior Citizen include such committed individuals who dedicated their entire lives
to the welfare of the family and the State. Paying their taxes in advance for the
betterment of the State and the people without a murmur and yet aware of the lack of
accountability on the part of the government, its bureaucrats, collaborating
industrialists forming a nexus of questionable dispensation of funds.
Lady senior citizens were girls married off as a child between the ages of 14 to 16 and
started cooking and house-keeping in families which housed three generation and,
did not have access to cooking gas, refrigerators or, washing machines. Those were
the days when a family meant a minimum of 15-18 adults, children, and visitors and
guests consuming a minimum of 150 handmade roti (bread), pulses, vegetables and a
compulsory sweet dish three times a day – no break, no holidays, no reduction in the
number of beneficiaries and or, new-borns.
Trials and tribulations experienced by this abused, forced slave labour have never
been documented or voiced for redress. Buried in a life perpetrated by a feudal
patriarchal society.
Women senior citizens lived for others and ensured every need was met except their
own, knowing fully well that their basic needs would not be met in their lifetime. The
world steadily changed to the present of self-centered thinking and indifference to
human pain and neglect of the individual, if it was not of concern to them.
The needs of the aged for some emotional support, figures nowhere. That a senior
citizen may desire or, need to interact, be heard, be visible, and would like a bit of
space of their own and have a constructive and creative role to play in society
becomes a criminal destructive, unfeeling demand for those in power.
Lady Senior Citizens – Problems and issues
The problems relating to lady senior citizens, women living alone or, victims of
accidents or medical problems, movement impaired, vision impaired, old age, single,
divorced and or, widowed, are not of any interests to governments, nor a part of
government data ever. These ladies are cast aside in the hope that being uncared for,
they will die an early death – cast aside by a patriarchal feudal society to die in
poverty and neglect, starved or, if necessary strangulated and the final Rights
performed by the police itself.
The ingratitude in Indians is clearly visible here – these neglected social segments
are, once again, those very people who paid their taxes on time without demanding
any favours from the government or, their children who were fully clothed,
educated and fully empowered for respect and positions world-wide is
ignored.
According to surveys across the country for most Indian senior citizens the biggest
concerns that prevailing are Healthcare costs, lack of financial support and seclusion.
And the biggest and most destructive blow comes when they are stripped off of their
dignity and courtesy they deserve. The elderly does not seek help or care givers –
they want a return to the dignity they are entitled to.
Physical Infrastructure
Lack of physical infrastructure forms the major deterrent to providing comfort to the
aged. Despite the multitude of Acts of Parliament and laws, directing architects,
builders and contractors to make all buildings, public transport and infrastructure
facility disability friendly and despite the tremendous accolades about a Swatch
Bharat, not a single toilet anywhere is disability friendly or conforming to the needs
of old age.
Lack of Companionship – Social Isolation
Most senior citizens who probably live alone suffer due to lack of companionship
sometimes exacerbated by lack of mobility due to ill health. Loneliness and isolation
are definitely a major concern among elderly Indians who are above 60 years of age.
Isolation results in gradual depression and other mental disorders in the elderly.
When other people try to develop bonds with older people and involve them in
togetherness and companionship it would be beneficial for all.
Article 6 The modern world has unprecedented wealth and technological capacity
and has presented extraordinary opportunities: to empower men and
women to reach old age in better health and with more fully realized
well-being; to seek the full inclusion and participation of older persons
in societies; to enable older persons to contribute more effectively to their
communities and to the development of their societies; and to steadily improve care
and support for older persons as they need it
The Indian Situation
In India the situation is far more complex. An overwhelming number of people live in
rural areas but migration is an ocean in a storm creating problems for the ageing at
both ends. If children go to urban areas leaving behind the aged in the rural areas,
that creates one set of problems, and if the old are taken along, it creates another set of problems.
The growth of the urban population and urban centres have been
haphazard creating an acute shortage of housing and other infrastructure facilities.
The health care system is woefully inadequate and there is hardly any
specialised agency focusing on the old. There are no programmes available to
train people taking care of the aged. In other words, the entire responsibility of
taking care of the old continues to be with the traditional institution of the family
which no longer exists.
Aurobindo
Curator
