Ashok Kumar Arora
The international network and WHO at the United Nations under resolution 66/127 launched this day on 15th of June 2006. The day is celebrated every year throughout the world to bring together the senior citizens, their children, their caregivers, close relations and the Government to combat the problem, supported by the United Nations and the World Health Organizations. The International Network for the Prevention of Elders Abuse (INPEA) was founded in 1997. It is a global body dedicated to the cause of disseminating information on the prevention of Elders Abuse. It serves as a call to action for individuals, organizations and communities to raise awareness about Elders Abuse.
World Elders abuse Awareness day
Virtually all the countries are expected to see substantial growth in the number of elderly persons between the year 2015 to 2030 and this growth shall be faster in the developed countries. Thus topic on elders abuse has started gaining visibility across the world.
5 to 10 percent of older people globally experience some kind of abuse. However it is unfortunate that this mostly goes unreported partly due to shame and embarrassment on the part of the victim. Financial abuse is quite different in the developed countries than that in the under developed countries. Poverty, widowhood and lack of support networks as well as weak police and criminal justice systems are the main reasons.
There are many types of elders abuse like physical,,sexual, exploitation ,abandonment and lastly the self neglect. .Last type is a failure of a person to perform self care and is most unfortunate.
Social development studies carried out in our country reveal alarming figures. Nearly 2/3rd of elderly people in our country are neglected by their families while as 1/3rd remaining face physical and verbal abuse. The studies further reveal that elders in urban areas face more brunt than those in the rural areas. In our country still family ties are strong and elders enjoy respect and live in dignity in rural areas.
With extended life span and more expenses on medicines and hospitalization the younger ones abstain from taking care of the elders . The sufferers of elders abuse are both men and women but over all the women are the more sufferers. Women generally live longer than the men as it is customary to marry men of higher age. Once widowed they are the main target of elders abuse. Elders are mostly fragile, with poor reflexes and vulnerable in all respects are dependent on the youngsters and thus are subject to elders abuse at some time or the other.
There are no specific laws to protect the elders from the elders abuse However State Govt. has enacted an Act ” Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior citizens Act 2014″ which protects the elders from elders abuse. The Act has come into force from 2017. No study seems to have been conducted on the implementation of this Act so far.
There are nearly nine crore elderly people in our State. Most of them do not have access to basic pension. They are poor people like labourers, , daily wagers, teastall and street vendors and so on and they are the main sufferers of elderly abuse. Under social security a few are being paid old age pension by the Social Welfare Department. The State Govt. has recently enhanced the old age pension to Rs. 1000 P.M. However how many souls are covered under the scheme is a million dollar question.. This is nothing but an elderly abuse.
Providing some basic facilities like financial safety ,health care, personal safety etc. is the social responsibility of the State. Even the state pensioners are not covered under any health insurance scheme.. These are also the cases of elderly abuse.
Fast track systems need to be provided to enable older persons to seek early justice. There is need to bring awareness in the younger generation through print and electronic media. Acts, plays and dramas can really leave a print on the minds of youngsters. Elders abuse is not a new phenomena. It is as old as the civilization..It is human nature to exploit the weak. There is empirical evidence to suggest that the elders abuse is increasing both within families and institutions. It also prevails across castes and religions. Its ingress is more in urban areas than the rural.. These abuses are confined to the four walls of the houses and not made public. Very few cases are reported.
Even the Supreme Court of India agreed to dwell on the issue evolving of acceptable solutions and schemes for the welfare of senior citizens . The state chief justice recently got established a day care centre for the Senior Citizens in the valley. Even some district administrations have also come forward to identify and establish Day Care Centres for the Senior Citizens. This is a very significant signal for others to follow. Recently our Hon’ble Governor has desired that a separate wing of the Social Welfare Deptt. should take care of Child and Women welfare. On similar lines a seprate wing or a commission can be established for the welfare of Senior Citizens.
Providing an Old Age Home at all the districts can be seen as an alternative to elders abuse. To do so it may not be possible for the State due to many constraints the Civil Society has to come forward. We believe that if this is done a large number of oldies can get relief from Elders Abuse.
With the affluence increasing, many senior citizens are opting for or aspire to live in retirement homes. The finances of present retirees and many others are better compared with earlier generations. Also the stigma earlier associated with such living is reducing. Thus Pay and Stay Homes is the other alternative. One most dreaded disease in the old age is Loneliness. Nearly 10 to 20 percent oldies die due to this disease. This is taken care of in pay and stay homes where many people live in a family.. Day care centers for the senior citizens is another option. It takes very little investment by the State Govt .as the Cengral Govt. bears most of the expenditure.
The Social Welfare Deptt should come forward for such a relief ,at least for the day ,for the oldies to be away from the home . Thus we have a number of solutions to the problem of Elders Abuse. Both the State Govt as well as the Civil Society have to come forward and avoid Elders Abuse.
(The author is Patron, Association For Welfare of Senior Citizens, Regd)
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