India Needs a Policy for the Care of Its Elderly
With nuclear families, rising prices and an economic slowdown, India's elderly are becoming wholly dependent on their children while the country's system of elder care is almost non-existent. Without a firm policy in time, society will pay a heavy price.
One of India's traditional customs was that the elderly lived with one of their children, and thanks to the joint-family system their financial needs were somehow met despite the ups and downs in their sons' incomes. The elderly were respected at home and in society and given an honoured, important place in family decisions. Rapid urbanisation replaced joint families with small nuclear ones, and the elderly were left depending on a single son or daughter for their needs. Now, with prices constantly rising and other expenses mounting, children too are finding it hard to support their parents — and if income falls, a job is lost or the economy slows, the difficulties deepen.
India is currently going through an economic slowdown, and in the coming months more job cuts and business closures are likely. Although the government has taken many steps to revive the economy, the results so far are not encouraging. If no quick and effective remedy works, society will face serious consequences.
We often see reports of children mistreating dependent elderly parents when their own income falls, or putting the care of aged parents second to spending on their own children's education. On the other hand there are also cases where children have given up their jobs to look after parents battling serious illness, and are caring for them even with limited means.
Compared with developed countries, conditions for Indians over sixty are very poor, because without any income of their own they depend entirely on the younger members of the family for their care. They have usually put their savings into building a house and have willingly handed it over to their sons and daughters. Some children even sell these houses and pocket all the money. To help meet the growing needs of their grandchildren, the elderly have to squeeze into small spaces, with no financial security at all. And so the last years of their lives are spent in pitiable conditions.
Unlike the self-reliant elderly of Western countries, most older people in India still live with their families. Only 2.2 per cent of the elderly who live alone are able to support themselves, and only 10 per cent of elderly couples are self-reliant for their upkeep and lifestyle. About 87.8 per cent live with their children. In Western countries, by contrast, almost all older people live separately and meet most of their needs without any special help or outside assistance. Physically, too, they are fitter and more active than our elderly. Their countries' health systems provide the elderly with proper care, preventive check-ups and other services such as physiotherapy free of charge. In India, since the family is the main source of the elderly's upkeep and healthcare, their dependence grows as they become older and weaker.
Unfortunately, India's system of elder care is almost non-existent, and our social-security system is among the weakest in the world. Financial independence is a key measure of the well-being of older people, yet only 26.3 per cent of the elderly are financially independent and 20.3 per cent partly so, while a very large share — 53.4 per cent — depend entirely on their children for financial and social security. Affordable old-age homes are in very short supply, and the good ones are very expensive.
Under the rapidly changing age profile, the average age of today's young Indians has been estimated at 27.1 years — meaning the average young Indian enters middle age before becoming financially capable! The steady decline in the ability to have children has also made Indians grow old earlier than in the past.
