How Is Life For Senior Citizens Rapidly Changing India?
How Is Life For Senior
Citizens Rapidly Changing India?
BY AMRUTA LOVEKAR
There are nearly
103 million senior citizens in India with the population expected to grow to
300 million by 2050. The country itself is rapidly undergoing change in terms
of technology, cultural and social changes. Here’s an expert look at how is
life for senior citizens in a rapidly changing India.
Economic and
Social Policies for Seniors
We already have
economic and social policies to tackle issues related to the elderly. The
National Policy on Older Persons, the Integrated Program for Older Persons mentions
national and state level economic and social schemes for older persons.
The critical issue
is how far these schemes are being implemented. A study on social security by
Tata Institute kof Social Sciences showed that although 40 per cent of the elderly
were aware of the concessions for train travel, only nine per cent availed of
them. Thirty-Seven per cent of the elderly were aware of the bus reservation in
seats for the elderly but only eight per cent availed of the facility.
One of the key
things that the Integrated Program on Older Persons mentions is the need to
bring older people and children together. For this purpose, organizations like
Ashwamedh Senior Citizens Division in collaboration with Bombay Community
Public Trust and Technova, reached out to around 4500 children to sensitize
them towards senior citizens. They conducted sessions with children in their
classrooms conveying the message that all of us are going to be old someday and
hence we need to be sensitive towards older persons. It became quite clear that
children have a lot of myths and stereotypes about older persons which, if not
challenged or discussed could lead to increasing gap amongst generations.
Does Urban India
View Ageing Differently Now
Earlier,
retirement was seen as a time when the person had reached the end of an active
life. There is this realization now that
a person has at least around 20 to 30 years of active life after retirement, so
this vacuum needs to be filled. Through my sessions with seniors, I have found that
seniors are more open to take in new ideas regarding this. They want to
contribute to the society in some way but do not know how to do it. Hence, some
volunteering or paid avenues need to be made available for senior citizens
where they can not only contribute their rich experience, but also feel useful.
It is commonly
seen that people want to remain young or they don’t want to stop their usual
activities just because they are old. The popular notion is that ‘We are young
at heart’. But the question is, why not acknowledge your age, why is there a
need to be young in the first place? This also means that more importance is
given to being young or youth is more favoured.
Mindset shift in
seniors about learning and experiencing new things
Health, fitness
and longer lifespans have overturned old stereotypes of age.
The old structures
of expectations and responsibilities are crumbling. According to sociologist
Mala Kapur Shankardass, this is the consequence of the rise of individualism.
Individual choices
are becoming as important as societal expectations. People are trying out new
things with courage and confidence without getting inhibited by societal
expectations and pressures.
Take the case of
Bokul Chatterjee of Kolkata. She gave her first year BA examination at the age
of 86 despite numerous health issues. I know an elderly ex-Alumni member of the
Social Work course for Senior Citizens who is volunteering for SOSVA (an NGO)
and teaching classical dance to slum kids. She said she feels the need to do
something constructive with her time.
Silver Talkies
features several older people who are putting their post-retirement years to
good use, either by helping others or exploring a new skill. Here’s Charles
Narayanan who teaches underpriviledged students in his neighbourhood & a
group of seniors in Chennai keeping the golden era of Hindi film music alive.
Focusing on a
second innings
There are
instances of people starting or flourishing in their second careers in
newspaper magazines and articles. There are also instances where people whose
experience and knowledge are highly valued are retained by the companies where
they were employed. But it is still difficult to find older people initiating
second careers. There are older people in Mumbai who are extremely involved in
running senior citizens associations, but in terms of actively beginning second
careers, you hardly encounter any.
When I conduct
sessions on ‘Successful Aging’ and
convey the message that it is important to have a purpose in life, people are
generally enthusiastic about doing something for the society. But I have seen
that this enthusiasm is short-lived and when they were informed about actual
opportunities to do paid or volunteer work, they back off. So, unless seniors
are willing to work consistently, it is difficult to find work opportunities.
Working with
seniors can have several advantages. I used to work in a small financial
services firm of only seven people, where the owner had employed senior
citizens. When I asked him the reason, he pointed out three. First was they
being very sincere and thorough in their work, second was that they rarely took
a holiday as they were really interested in the work that they were doing and the
third was that they kept the office atmosphere light and cheerful.
Government schemes
for senior citizens
Government schemes
are not very known and the middle class elderly senior citizens do not use
them. It is mostly the lower-class elderly and people from the rural areas who
utilize these schemes. If they are to know about the schemes, then information
booklets and pamphlets need to be published in regional languages. There is an
elderly person Mansukhlal Ruparelia, residing in Mira Road in Palghar district
who has made it his life’s mission to spread information about Government
schemes and programs after retiring from Indian Railways as Joint Director.
The Government
also needs to network with organizations and practitioners who work with
seniors to actually understand the ground reality and inform them about
policies and programs for seniors.
Daily Challenges
Seniors Face
In the UK for
people who are living alone, there are home care services which include
personal care, shopping, cleaning and also accompanying the person for outside
visits if required. These services are provided by the UK Government through
home care assistants who are trained in eldercare. This helps in keeping more
and more older people in their own homes rather than sending them to old age
homes.
We neither have
social security nor do have services for older people. It is still considered
to be a family responsibility. But now with the changing scenario, it needs to
be acknowledged that children are not in a position to help or assist their
elderly parents and in some cases, older people themselves do not want any help
and wish to remain independent. So, services need to be put in place by
Government and the voluntary sectors for aging-in-place.
The National
Policy on Older Persons 2011 mentions regarding promoting the concept of
‘aging-in-place’ and ageing in own home and also home care services.
In terms of
commuting, it can be seen that most senior citizens who are middle old (between
the ages of 75 to 85) try to avoid commuting by public transport due to
crowding, enervating staircases and over bridges. Only seven seats are reserved
for seniors in Mumbai local trains. Seniors find it difficult to book taxi
services like Ola, Uber if they are not mobile savvy. Although the new Policy
on Senior Citizens talks about productive ageing and creating continuity in
current employment and post-retirement opportunities, the Government has hardly
taken any steps in this direction.
So despite the
changes in our social environment and senior’s own mindset, the challenges
still remain.
ABOUT AUTHOR
AMRUTA LOVEKAR
Gerontologist
Amruta Lovekar works with Echoing Healthy Ageing (EHA) a social enterprise
focused on promoting healthy ageing with specialist experience in dementia
care. Lovekar has been training and conducting workshops with more than 70
senior citizens associations on ‘Successful Aging.’ She has also worked with
students to make them more sensitive towards seniors and create awareness
regarding senior citizens’ issues.
Credit :
Silvertalkies.com