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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Cops, courts seen letting down elderly -Ambika Pandit

Cops, courts seen letting down elderly -Ambika Pandit

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published Published on Aug 16, 2013   modified Modified on Aug 16, 2013
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: A countrywide survey of the society's perception of the vulnerability of the elderly, in terms of their human rights, has revealed that most people believe that the police and the judicial system have given them no relief. Most people, especially the youth (below 35 years of age), believe that police is not sensitive towards older persons and issues concerning old age. And almost 60% of the 32,100 respondents, including 6600 from Delhi and NCR, said they had no faith in the judicial system addressing the concerns of elderly either.

The survey was carried out by Delhi-based NGO Agewell Foundation. The respondents, from different age-groups, were interviewed all through July and the first week of August. Around 87% of the respondents were below 35 years of age and 52% were women.

Nearly 17.2% respondents were very dissatisfied with the role of the local police. "As the police in most cases lack the soft skills necessary for dealing with the elderly, a lot remains to be done to ensure the elderly can safely turn to the police if any of their rights are being violated," the report notes. According to the survey, 58.3% respondents said that older persons cannot depend on the judicial system for timely justice.

"With an ever-changing socio-economic and demographic scenario across the country, the living conditions of older persons have also changed remarkably and life expectancy has gone up. As per analysis of census 2011 data, the population of older persons in India has already crossed the unique mark of 100 million," the report points out.

Old people need family support and care but with the nuclear family becoming the norm and continuous migration of people, they are constantly being marginalized and isolated, particularly in urban areas. The report says that the emotional, social, financial, medical and legal security structures are becoming weak, leading to denial of their human rights. On perception of older women and their dependence on the family, the survey found that 73.5% believed that older women were entirely dependent on family support for sustenance as they had no assured income. One-fourth of the respondents said older men were considered a burden on the family after they retired.

A dichotomy was noticed by 59.3% of the respondents in the way the elderly were perceived at home and outside. "Whereas socially, older people are given respect, at home they are not considered important," states the report. In fact, 4.1% were candid enough to say they did not want to live with older persons and another 4% said they didn't find older people good company for their children.

But when it came to productivity of the retired people, 84.9% responded in the affirmative. Among these, 43.8% strongly disagreed with the notion that old people were not productive after retirement. "It vindicates the stand that retirement is superfluous," stated the report.

However, 58.3% disagreed with the statement that in India people had financial security in old age. "The concept of investment and savings for old age is always at the back of the mind for the average urban Indian. However, very few in India actually start actively securing our old age financially. This is an issue that needs to be addressed at a much earlier stage. People in their youth need to be motivated to save for their retirement. This initiative should permeate the school curricula itself in order to inculcate behavioural change in people and help them make conscious choices to save actively for their retirement."

On the availability of and accessibility to social security schemes for the elderly, the survey found 70.7% respondents were dissatisfied with schemes like pension. About the legal provisions for elderly, it turned out only 5.5% respondents were aware of the laws specific to them. "While on paper certain provisions are available, in a traditional society like India, most cases pertaining to elderly go unreported and never reach a formal legal space for resolution," it was stated.


The Times of India, 16 August, 2013, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Cops-courts-seen-letting-down-elderly/articleshow/21851331.cms


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