Ageing in an Indian City- T K Nair

Ageing in an Indian City


T.K.Nair


ISBN 10 : 81-7525-488-2

ISBN 13 : 978-81-7525-488-6

Copyright © T.K. Nair

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First published in 2011

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Dedicated

to

my father late Sri.K.Thankappan Pillai

and

my mother late Smt.T.Lakshmi Amma

vii

PROLOGUE

The increasing elderly population in India raises manyquestions. How will we, and the future generations, dealwith the challenges posed by the aging of our population?Can it be ensured that growing old will not mean, for themajority, a further sliding down into poverty anddependency? How can families be supported andstrengthened so that they can provide good quality ofcare to the older members? How can the elderly beempowered to look after themselves effectively?Systematic planning and action are needed at the nationaland state levels particularly in the areas of health care,housing, income security, education and welfare inresponding to the needs of the elderly.

The International Plan of Action on Aging formulatedby the World Assembly on Aging in 1982 and adoptedby the United Nations General Assembly made, amongothers, the following recommendation to nationalgovernments:

Governments and non-governmental bodies should be

encouraged to establish social services to support the

whole family when there are elderly people at home

and to implement measures especially for low-income

families who wish to keep elderly people at home.

The Madrid International Plan of Action on Aging and

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the Political Declaration adopted at the Second WorldAssembly on Aging in April 2002 marked an importantlandmark in the global approach to aging. The Plan hasthree priority areas: older persons and development;health and well-being; and ensuring enabling andsupportive environments.

Population aging in India has, of late, drawn the attentionof the policy framers of the country. A National Policyon Older Persons (NPOP) with many promises wasannounced in 1999. But the elected political leadershiphas shown least interest in implementing the policy,possibly because the older voters have not yet become avote bank. The implementation or non-implementationof the policy is left to the discretion of the bureaucracy.The priority for the elderly is low and there is seriousconviction deficit among those who matter inimplementing the NPOP. The NPOP contains pro-familyrhetoric and promises of health care initiatives for theelderly. Non-governmental organizations were assuredof transparency, simplification of procedures and timelyrelease of grants. But a policy document cannot alter thebureaucratic practices of decades. A social welfaredepartment official of the government of Tamilnadu toldThe Hindu in August 2010 that the schemes of thegovernment of India for senior citizens elicited poorresponse from the NGOs. Most of the older persons areat the receiving end of the service delivery system and

ix

programmes are often developed without the participationof the elderly themselves. The older persons are treatedas recipients and not as participants. Unless there is achange in mindset among the political and bureaucraticestablishments, the NPOP will remain only a paper policy.

Fast GDP growth does not mean anything to the vastmajority of the elderly as former Union Minister ManiShankar Aiyar has recently commented sarcastically thatthe GDP growth of 94 per cent of the Indians is only0.94 per cent. A government that watches millions starvewhile tonnes of food grains rot cannot be expected torespond effectively to the needs of the elderly whosecollective voice is feeble. Exasperated by the continuedapathy of the state and central governments, a joint actioncommittee of senior citizens observed August 16, 2010as the National Protest Day to “stir up the conscience ofour rulers and the society”, taking a cue from the warningof the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan: “Seniorcitizens, in spite of their number, collective wisdomand experience, will continue to be ignored andmarginalized unless they unite”.

A Personal Note

“People don’t grow old

When they stop growing,

they become old”

Anonymous

x

My parents “never grew old”, though they grew older.My mother lived 89 years and my father 73 years. Bothof them were active till their last days. I was born in avillage – Thiruvattar – in the erstwhile Travancore statenearly seventy five years ago. It was a typical village: noelectricity, no bus service, no school or doctor nearby…. At the same time, there was fresh air to breathe andperennial flow of water in the river. My father was acreative artist and his oil paintings were popular. I wasthe only surviving child to my parents . From the age ofsixteen I had to be separated from my parents for collegeeducation and subsequently for employment. Finally, Ibecame a permanent resident of Chennai. My parentsnever liked to leave our village. But they immenselymissed me. The only compensation for the separationwas the occasional visits that I used to make with mywife and children to meet my father and mother. Afterthe demise of my father, my mother joined us at Chennaibecause of persistent persuasion. But she was never happywith the constricting life in the city. This book on thesituation of the elderly is my humble tribute to my parents.

I learnt the first lessons of social work from Prof.K.N.George at the Madras School of Social Work. Formore than four decades, he was Director of the institution.He gave me the opportunity to direct two major researchstudies on older people. I am beholden to Prof. George.

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Prof.K.V.Ramana (formerly Vice - Chancellor of AndhraUniversity) has always been my well-wisher. A well-known professor of social work and a distinguished socialscientist, he has been particular that all social workteachers should pursue doctoral research. He motivatedme to work on a topic of significance in elder care –community care of the elderly – for my doctoraldissertation. I am deeply indebted to Prof.Ramana.

As policies of the government are often not based onsound data base, it was difficult to answer queries of theelderly respondents regarding the purpose of the surveys.Many older respondents were either cynical or indifferent.On the whole the two surveys in Chennai city, the findingsof which are discussed in this book, could be carried outsuccessfully and I am grateful to the elderly men andwomen for sharing their views.

I have postponed completion of this book many a timedue to many unforeseen circumstances. Finally mydaughter Minii’s persistence and support enabled me tocomplete this task. She did the typesetting of themanuscript and helped in retrieving necessaryinformation from the internet sources. My fifteen - yearold granddaughter Reena also helped me.

My wife Thankam and I grew older together for nearlyfifty years. She never complained when I kept myselfbusy with many of my academic and social work

xii

activities. Whether sickness or surgery, she alwaysremained calm and confident. She is a symbol of “aginggracefully”.

ChennaiMarch 2011 T.K.Nair

CONTENTS

Prologue vii

1. Aging and Old Age 1

2. Demographic Characteristics 28

3. Aging in Indian Society 46

4. Chennai City and Its Elderly 67

5. Social Security and State Policy 97

6. Social Services for the Elderly 118

7. Conclusion 130

Bibliography 138

Ageing in an Indian City / 1

1AGING AND OLD AGE

OLD AGE

Aging is a long term process of change for both individualsand populations. However, the concept and process ofaging are surrounded by considerable controversy andsuspect evidence. Human aging is a process ofdifferentiation and individualization. Aging has two integralelements – intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic aging meansthose age-related processes that are internal and specificto the individual, while extrinsic aging comprises thoseage-related changes that are brought about by externalfactors related to the physical and social environment ofthe individual (United Nations, 1982a, pp. 5-6). Olderpersons, who were born at a particular historical time,and in a particular region and society, belong to a cohortsharing similar social and historical experiences, life-stylesand other characteristics which differentiate them fromother older persons born at different historical periods indiverse social situations. Individuals derive social meaningsand develop expectations regarding themselves, theirfamilies and their society as they grow older from theseprocesses of aging and within the context of social,historical, cultural and economic situations.

2 / Ageing in an Indian City

Old age is a relative concept which varies from society tosociety. In fact, there are several explanations of old ageand we are likely to slip unknowingly from one to another.Though aging is a universal process, identifying thechronological threshold to old age is not possible.Depending on the expectation of life, the definition of oldage is found to vary from about 40 in some developingcountries to 70 and beyond in some developed countries.The common assumption is that the passage of time , asmeasured by the chronological age , is a reliable index ofchanges in our minds and bodies, and in our abilities andlimitations. But this assumption is highly erroneous whichis well illustrated by the example of compulsory retirement(Kastenbaum, 1979,p.8). The age of 65 is still the mostfrequent cut-off point for compulsory retirement indeveloped countries although more diversity has beenshown lately. It is the institution of retirement which clearlylabelled a section of persons old. Social historians contendthat the social constructs of ‘youth’ and ‘old age’ have infact grown up after the industrial revolution (Aries,1962).There is no scientific support for retirement at anyparticular chronological age. These age markers have nofoundation in any biological reality. Instead, politicaland economic reasons have been responsible for theage-based retirement practice. In India, the mandatoryage of retirement of most of the personnel in governmentservice ranges from 55 to 60. Only a small section could


work till 65.

The World Assembly on Aging held in 1982 under theauspices of the United Nations adopted the definition ofaging population as persons 60 years and older withoutobscuring the great individual, societal and temporaldifferences in actual and perceived characteristics of theelderly population. The United Nations (1985) reportadds that such a demarcation is convenient only forstatistical analysis (pp. 4 - 5).

The Census of India has been adopting the age of 60years to classify a person as old. Gerontologist Neugarten(1974) points out that, with increased survival rates andimproved health, it is becoming apparent that there aretwo, rather than one, strata of aging population, whichshe has distinguished as the young-old (upto 74 years)and the old-old (75 years and above). Ayurveda, thetraditional system of Indian medicine, divides human lifespan into ten stages and categorizes the aging personsinto two broad groups :Vriddha (60 to 80 years) andJaratha (above 80 years).

The definition of old age is dependent on the culturalnorms and social context of any society. In India,Shashtiabdapurthi, which means the completion of 60years, is traditionally celebrated as a significant milestone,while the completion of 70 years is celebrated asSapthadi, which is an achievement in the life span of anindividual. It is the duty of the offsprings to celebrate


these milestones. But these are observed only by the well-to-do and those belonging to the upper castes. In mostof the societies under the influence of Chinese culture,the sixty-first birthday has been associated with thebeginning of old age (Maeda, 1978 , p. 47). In ancientChina, the calendar year was named with the combinationof two sets of Chinese characters – one consisted oftwelve characters and the other five characters. Therefore,on becoming sixty-one years old, the name of that yearbecomes same as that of the year of birth. Hence thesixty- first year after birth is called Kanreki (return ofthe calendar) which is often regarded as the beginning ofsecond childhood. In Japan many people used to hold apassing rite to mark Kanreki. At the time of the ceremonyof Kanreki, the person becoming sixty-one used to bepresented by the children and relatives with a red vestdesigned to signify the coming of second childhood.Generally speaking, people of sixty years of age andover are not obliged to work to earn money. In otherwords, kanreki signifies the social sanction permittingentry into Inkyo, meaning retired life, though mostJapanese elderly people continue to work. But now theconcept of old age is changing greatly in Japan. Age sixtymarks a universally accepted point in time for entry intothe oldest generation in China (Friedmann, 1983, p.3).Consequently, in terms of social functioning, the yearsbetween fifty and sixty are a transition period in which


Chinese men and women come increasingly to be seenby others and by themselves as old, while the years aftersixty mark a clearcut turning point and are virtually alwaysdesignated as the years of old age.

The marriage of one’s children –particularly of one’s sons– marks the beginning of old age in Indian society farmore clearly than does the passing of a specified numberof years. This is especially so for women (Vatuk, 1975,p. 151). The arrival of grandchildren is strongly associatedwith the onset of old age in Indian and many othersocieties. The birth of a first grandchild also encouragesself identification as an old person. For those personswho had their child at about eighteen and whose firstborn also had a first child at eighteen, grandparenthoodcan come as early as age thirty-five or thirty-six. Theeffects of the family life cycle may have differentimplications for people living in different cultures. Insocieties, where marriage and child bearing occur at youngages, persons may achieve the “old age” status ofgrandparent while in their thirties as discussed earlier. Inother contexts, where childbearing is delayed because ofthe desire of young women for education and workexperience, persons attain this status at more advancedages. Thus, even if persons are defined as “elderly” withreference to similar social roles, there are great differencesamong societies in the chronological age at which suchroles are attained (United Nations, 1985, p.5).


Society has another way of classifying people by age.Anthropologists refer to this as age-grading. It has beenthe most important basis of age distinction in manysocieties. Age is a very important element of socialorganization that anthropologists are convinced that age-grading is a universal feature in the assignment of socialroles, rights and responsibilities in modern as well as pre-industrial societies though the nature of the criteria usedin the distribution of roles varies. As people encounterthe sequence of age-graded roles, rites of passage areone of the mechanisms used by society to indicate theirmovement from one phase of the life cycle to the next.Originally such rites were celebrated by highly ritualizedceremonies and had as their function the provision of aninstitutionalized means for facilitating the cessation ofcertain behaviour and the introduction of a new set ofexpectations (Hendricks & Hendricks, 1977, pp.8-12).

Age-grading can be as powerful as chronological age inshaping a person’s life. The rules of behaviour are oftenquite different for the various grades. This means thatmoving from adulthood to old age can have differentimplications, according to the rules that characterize aparticular society’s age-grading. Age-grading establishesguidelines as to who should do what kind of work andwho owes what kind of obligation to whom, and so on.In a thoroughly age-graded society, everybody has a prettygood idea of what he or she is supposed to be doing at a


2DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS

POPULATION AGING: A GLOBAL OVERVIEW

Demographic aging of populations is a twentieth centuryphenomenon. A combination of factors such as controlof perinatal and infant mortality as well as many infectiousdiseases, improvement in nutrition, basic health care, anddecline in birth and mortality rates has resulted in anincreasing number and proportion of persons survivinginto the advanced stages of life in many regions of theworld. Population aging refers to changes in the agestructure of a population as a whole with increasingproportions of persons defined as “elderly” in thepopulation. In 1950, according to United Nations estimates(Table 2.1), there were more than 200 million persons 60years of age and over throughout the world. By 1975,their number had increased to approximately 350 million.United Nations projections indicate that the number willincrease to over 1,100 million by 2025; that is, an increaseof 224 per cent since 1975. During this same period, theworld’s population as a whole is expected to increasefrom 4.1 billion to 8.2 billion, an increase of 102 per cent(United Nations, 1982 b, p.50). Thus, fifteen years fromnow the elderly will constitute 13.7 per cent of the world’spopulation. In 1975 slightly over half of all persons aged


60 and over lived in the developing countries. Owing tothe differential rates of increase, by the year 2000 over 60per cent of all older persons in the world were living inthe developing countries and it is anticipated that theproportion will reach nearly three-quarters by 2025.

Table 2.1

Number of 60+ Persons and Percentage Distribution in the World

Area 1950 1975 2000 2025

a. Number of persons 60 years ofage and over (In million)

World 214 346 590 1121

More developed regions 95 166 230 315

Less developed regions 119 180 360 806

b. Percentage of population 60 years ofage and over

World 100 100 100 100

More developed regions 44 48 39 28

Less developed regions 56 52 61 72

Source : United Nations, Demographic Indicators of Countries:Estimates and Projections as Assessed in 1980, In. United Nations,The World Aging Situation: Strategies and Policies, ST/ESA/150, New York: United Nations, 1985, p.26.

The increase in the numbers and proportions of olderpersons is accompanied by a change in the population’sage structure. A declining proportion of children in apopulation increases the proportion of older persons.Thus, according to the United Nations (1982b)projections, the population aged less than 15 years in thedeveloping regions is expected to decline from about 41per cent of the total population in 1975 to 26 per cent in


2025. At the same time, the population of 60 years andover, in the same regions, is expected to increase from 6per cent in 1975 to 12 per cent in 2025, thus reaching thelevel observed in the developed regions in the 1950s. Inthe developed regions, the population below the age of15 is expected to decline from 25 per cent in 1975 to 20per cent in 2025; however, the group aged 60 and over isexpected to increase as a proportion of the totalpopulation from 15 per cent in 1975 to 23 per cent in2025. These statistics are averages concerning vastregions, whereas considerable variations exist betweencountries and at the subnational level (p.50).

Fertility and mortality are the dynamic factors thatinfluence population change, both in size andcomposition. The process of population aging is afunction of these basic demographic factors that areusually described by the term “demographic transition”.Myers (1982) says that in its most simple form,demographic transition “denotes the shift from high tolow levels of mortality and fertility, during which processfairly low rates of population growth… yield to significantlyhigher levels and then fall back to low growth rates onceagain”(p.4). High levels of both mortality and fertility wouldcause a youthful age structure. When fertility begins todecline, the youthful segment of the population (in the 0-14 age group) is reduced and the population in the olderage groups increases. The population then can be said to


be aging. Countries undergoing demographic transitionexperience high fertility and low mortality rates. Theproportion of older persons in their populations remainslow while their number increases substantially. This is whatis happening in many developing countries today. Thiscould develop a tendency to overlook the seeminglycontradictory phenomenon that the number of elderly isactually increasing in developing countries. Myers (1982)cautions that equal attention should be given to growth inthe number of older persons, because both arecomplementary forces operating in a society and wouldgive rise to particular social issues of importance (p.2).

The developing countries are attempting to lower theirfertility rates in order to achieve the level of progress anddevelopment they desire. While considerable attention,and rightly so, is focused on birth control and provisionof health care, education and other services to the growingcohorts of the young, relatively little attention has beengiven to the longer term consequences of successful birthcontrol measures and improved life expectancy at birth.A proper balance between social, economic andenvironmental factors and changes in population structureis necessary for sustained development. The WorldAssembly on Aging made an important distinction betweenhumanitarian and developmental concerns regarding theelderly. The humanitarian issues relate to meeting thespecific needs of the elderly including requirements for


healthcare, nutrition, housing, a safe environment, familysupport, social welfare services, employmentopportunities, income security, and education. Thedevelopmental issues relate to the socio-economicimplications of the aging of the population (UnitedNations, 1982 b, pp.51-52).

POPULATION AGING IN INDIA

Age Structure

Mukherjee’s (1976) analysis of the Indian populationshows that the percentage of the population sixty yearsand above has risen over the past century by only 0.72per cent from 5.25 per cent of the total in 1881 to 5.97per cent in 1971, with periodic downward fluctuations insome of the intervening census years (p.97). This is sodespite the massive increase in India’s population fromapproximately 238 million in 1901 to 548 million in 1971(Registrar General, 1984, Part I, p.23).

The nearly static age structure of India’s population isprimarily a consequence of consistently high rate of fertilitydespite decline in mortality rate during this period. Butthere is a trend, though not very significant, towardschange in the age structure of the Indian population asseen from the census data from 1961 to 1981 (Table 2.2).A decline in the proportion of population in 0-4 age groupindicates a fall in birth rate within the past five years, anda decline in the 5-9 age groups would reflect


Table 2.2

Population of India (1961- 2001) in Broad Age Groups

(Percentage Distribution)

Age Group 1961 1971 1981* 2001

0 - 4 15.06 14.51 12.59 10.74

5 - 9 14.73 14.96 14.07 12.47

10 - 14 11.23 12.55 12.88 12.14

(0 - 14 41.02 42.02 39.54 35.35)

15 - 59 53.31 52.00 53.93 56.94

60+ 5.63 5.96 6.49 7.44

* Excludes Assam

Sources : Registrar General& Census Commissioner for India,Census of India, 1981, Series-1, India, Report andTables Based on 5 Per Cent Sample Data, Part I,Report, Delhi : Controller of Publications, 1984, p.26.

: Age Composition, Census of India, 2001 (Internet).

a fall in birth rate five to nine years back. In India, thepercentage of the population aged 0-9 was similar in 1961and 1971, that is, 29.79 and 29.47 respectively, but itdeclined to 26.66 in 1981 indicating a decline in fertilityduring the 1970s. Further, the decline in the percentage ofpopulation during 1971-81 is greater in the 0-4 age groupthan in the 5-9 age group, indicating a comparatively fasterdecline during the second half of the 1970s than duringthe first half. Correspondingly, there is a slight increase inthe proportions of population in the 15-59, and 60 andabove age groups in 1981 as compared to 1961. Thedeclining trend in the percentages of population in the 0-4


3AGING IN INDIAN SOCIETY

AGING AND THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE

Aging takes place in a given social structure and the careof the elderly is dependent on the way the social structureresponds to the needs of the older members of the society.Social structure is a system of positions, roles andstatuses. Social position is the identity of a person in thesocial structure in relation to the other members who toohave distinct positions. Each position involves theperformance of a set of socially specified tasks or rolesand carries certain privileges such as power, prestige andsecurity which together constitute “social status” (D’Souza, 1982, p.72). Social structure is an evolving,changing entity with interdependence among its componentparts. The social institutions, which are the componentsof the social structure, are the established and organizedways of meeting social needs in a distinct area of socialfunction (Pathak, 1981, p.9). Changes in the socialstructure lead to a chain effect involving changes in thecomponents themselves. In other words, structuralchanges in society bring about changes in the positions,roles and statuses of particular persons.

The village community is the bedrock of the traditional


Indian social structure, which has survived through thecenturies .The joint family and the caste structure are theprincipal components of the village community. The villagerepresents an organized social structure with division oflabour among the various caste groups. It is the centre oflife for an individual where one belongs, where one hasroots, and where one can find a sense of security withinthe protective circle of one’s kinship group. In Dube’s(1955) words:

Village communities all over the Indian sub-continenthave a number of common features. The village settlement,as a unit of social organization, represents a solidaritydifferent from that of the kin, the caste and the class, andplays a vital role as an agency of socialization and socialcontrol (p.7).

Caste, kin group, joint family, services and land are themajor elements of the traditional Indian rural society. Castedetermined the services to be rendered by the familieswhich, in turn, decided the control of land. Within thefamily, the senior most man was the head. He wasresponsible for the management of property, care of allpersons in the household, and education and marriage ofyounger members. The elders, being the heads of thefamilies, were also the leaders of the kin group, caste andvillage. They were the members of the village panchayat.Srinivas (1955) observes that the “elders of the dominantpeasant caste” in Rampura village, where he conductedthe study, “administer justice not only to members of


their own caste group but also to all persons of othercastes who seek their intervention” (p.18). By tradition itwas usually the oldest generation who wielded power andinfluence in the villages. No important decision, whetherit concerned the arrangements for a marriage, theallocation and use of land, or the settlement of a disputewas made without first consulting the senior members ofthe community. In the traditional Indian system, theauthority of the elders had the sanctity of the scriptures.The respect and reverence for parental authority was soembedded in the young minds that they could not thinkof differing from or raising their voice against them.

The “principle of seniority” in the joint family as well asin the village community was supported by the culturalsystem characteristic of peasant societies. “In a societywhere change is slow, the solutions of yesterday for theproblems of life are still valid today” (Gore, 1968, pp.13-14).The older man had, therefore, higher rank. Thetraditional rural society, thus, conferred pre-eminentposition to the elderly. The older the man, the greater washis responsibility, the more were his roles and the higherwas his status. Experience is a requisite of the agriculturalsociety. As experience grows with age, the elderscommanded greater respect and position. They were thekeepers of tradition and folklore. They were consideredthe repositories of wisdom, knowledge, experience and


skills, and were treated with deference and veneration.But the socio-cultural-economic context which conferreda pre-eminent position to the elderly in the family, the kingroup and the village community has been changing instructure and functions. Political democracy; universalfranchise; spread of social reform and social movements;democratization of education; elected village panchayat;land reform; abolition of inequalities like untouchability;legislations on marriage, divorce, succession, inheritanceand right to property; monetization of the economy;improved communication with the outside world;dissemination of information through mass media; exodusof the young to the towns and cities; pressure ofurbanization; and impact of development programmes,particularly for family planning, education of girls andwomen’s employment, are the major forces that havecontributed to the structural and institutional changes inIndian society. In this process the solidarity of thetraditional joint family and the village community isexperiencing the impact of these changes.

The central themes of discussion on the situation of theelderly in India are the structural changes that have beentaking place in Indian society, the concomitant decline ofthe joint family system, and the consequent neglect of theelderly by their families and loss of their status incommunities. D’Souza (1982) takes the extreme view that


because of the fundamental changes taking place in theIndian social structure, the older people are losing thestatus and security which they enjoyed in the traditionalIndian society. He adds that the traditional society byway of socio-cultural arrangements provided the elderlywith crutches which helped them cope with theirdifficulties which are now crumbling and left to themselvesmost older people would be unable to lead a satisfactoryand dignified life (p.78).

THE JOINT FAMILY AND THE CARE OF THE ELDERLY

Indian society has always been described as one whichprovides the elderly a secure place -- both materially andemotionally -- within their families. The Hindu religiousliterature prescribes respect and obedience to one’s elders.The two epics -- Mahabharatha and Ramayana -- shownumerous instances of filial reverence by sons anddaughters. The Upanishads remind the Hindus to treatthe parents as Gods – Mathru devo bhava and Pitrudevo bhava. Adult sons are enjoined to remain in theparental home even after their marriage, and to repay withlove, respect and tender care the sacrifices of their parentsin giving birth to them and for bringing them up frominfancy. Care during illness or incapacity is consideredby most Indians to be the responsibility of adult sonsand their wives. Among the vast majority of the people, a


strong element of shame is associated with having to relyupon one’s daughter for support or for personal servicesof any kind. It is also considered a family disgrace toleave the parents in the care of non-kins.

The traditional Indian family is the joint family which hasbeen portrayed as a well- integrated kinship unit with theeldest male occupying the position of authority. InMandelbaum’s (1972) words, “Indian village society ispatrilineal and virilocal except for a few matrilineal groups,notably the Nayars of Kerala” (p.35). He adds that anycogent analysis of the joint family must include theconcepts of patrilineal ties and virilocal residence, ofproper relations between father and son as well as betweenbrother and brother shared by most Indian villagers. Thefamily members are expected to form one solidarity, livingin one household as long as possible, and supportingeach other. A family may be physically separated, evenlegally split, yet the brothers may continue to act as afunctioning family (Mandelbaum, 1972, p.45). The jointfamily is the principal unit of economic production aswell as of consumption. The members of this unit havestrong feelings of mutual obligation and the acceptanceof the authority of age or seniority helps maintain the jointfamily.

The veneration of the elderly in the joint family wasperfected by the practice of ancestor worship. When the


4CHENNAI CITY AND ITS ELDERLY

THE CITY AND THE PEOPLE

Francis Day and Andrew Cogan of the English East IndiaCompany set up a small trading post in a village on theCoromandel coast in 1639, which grew into ametropolitan city. Named Madras in 1653, the city wasrenamed Chennai in 1996. Chennai, the fourth largestcity in the country, is the capital of the state of Tamilnadu.Chennai’s population according to the 2001 census was4.34 million spread over an area of 174 square kilometres.In July 2009, the state government announced the mergerof some municipalities, town panchayats and villagepanchayats with the Chennai corporation, which will havean area of more than 400 square kilometres.

Chennai is an important industrial and commercial centrein the country, particularly in the manufacturing,automobile and health care sectors. Despite its impressiveperformance in the sphere of economic development,large sections of the city population are not able to getthe benefits of development as is the situation in thecountry as a whole. Among the country’s metropolitancities, Chennai is the poorest with the least per capitaincome, while the density of population is one of thehighest in the world with 24963 persons per square


kilometre according to 2001 census. The well-knownMercer’s Quality of Living Survey, which covered221 cities worldwide in 2009, ranked Chennai 152.The survey report states that while the city boasts ofwell-healed star hospitals run as corporate profit centres,the poor are left in the lurch even for basic health careservices.

One-fourth of the Chennai population live inslums according to the 2001 census. This is anything buta conservative estimate. The acute scarcity ofaccommodation and the heavy demand for houses haveprompted the owners of buildings to maximize profitsthrough short-cuts. Neglect of upkeep and lack ofmaintenance of buildings and partitioning houses into“portions” without consideration for space, ventilation,water supply and environmental hygiene have made puccastructures in many areas worse than slums of mud andthatch.

Slums pockmark the length and breadth of the city. Theyare scattered throughout the city on the banks of watercourses and embankments of drains, near industrialestablishments, under and around railway bridges, onvacant lands, on and around dumping grounds andgraveyards. The proportion of people living in slums ofmud and thatch, and those living in substandard dwellingswould be more than 40 per cent of the people in Chennaicity. These vulnerable sections, who are occupying


dwelling units which are unfit for human habitation, keepthe city ticking. They constitute a significant part of thework force of Chennai, who work as maids, constructionworkers, plumbers, electricians, painters, scavengers, etc.They live and grow old in the midst of misery braving themiasma. In Chennai city, persons aged 60 and above were8.1 per cent of the total population according to the 2001census. In contrast to the sex-ratio of 957 among theChennai population, the sex-ratio among the elderlysegment was 1022. Among the older persons in the city,the young-old (below 70) constituted 60.8 per cent andthe old-old (70 and above) 39.2 per cent.

A Comparative Analysis

Two studies on the elderly in Chennai city were conductedby the author in 1968 and 1998, respectively. Both thestudies had covered statistically sufficient and efficientprobability samples: 910 in 1968 (399 men and 511women), and 669 in 1998 (286 men and 383 women).The 1968 study (Nair, 1972) was analogous to the cross-national studies on aging in six countries and wassponsored by the United States government, while the1998 study was the outcome of a research grant from theSandoz Foundation for Gerontological Research. Thethirty-year gap between the two studies is coincidental.This coincidence proved useful to make an analysis ofthe situation of the elderly in Chennai city in two points intime. Only certain selected aspects have been includedfor the comparative analysis.


FAMILY LIFE OF THE ELDERLY

In all societies, the family is the fundamentalmultipurpose organization for many of the principal lifefunctions of the individual and of society (Mandelbaum,1972, p.33). So crucial are family relations to awhole society that it is sometimes difficult to resistportraying them as though they were the single core ofsocial relations. The family life of the elderly has beenstudied with reference to marital status, family structureand living arrangement.

Marital Status

Advancing age normally deprives men and women of theirlife partners. Bereavement of spouse is more commonamong elderly women primarily because of the substantialage difference between bridegrooms and brides atthe time of marriage. Nearly nine out of ten womenwere widows in the first study, whereas about three-fourthsof the elderly women were widows in the second

Table 4.1

Older Persons by Marital Status


Men Women

Marital Status 1968 1998 1968 1998

Married 72 81 13 26

Widow/ Widower 25 16 86 73

Others 3 2 2 2

N 399 286 511 383


study. Widowhood is often accompanied by dependenceon children or other relatives. A large number of oldermen, in contrast, are married, thus ensuring themselvesof companionship and care in old age. The decrease inthe proportion of widows and widowers can be attributedto the decline in mortality rate.

Children

Social security and living arrangement of older peopleare dependent not only on the number of children, butalso on whether the children are all sons, all daughters, orboth sons and daughters. Having a son is a decisive factorin the structural closeness between parents and children.Children of both sexes are strong reinforcing factorenhancing the likelihood of togetherness and nearness.

The emotional experiences too differ between parents andsons, and parents and daughters. The sex of childrenalso determines how soon one would become agrandparent. Older people with daughters becomegrandparents earlier than older people with sons. Nineout of every ten elderly women and more than nine out often elderly men have surviving children according to the1998 study. Among the childless older persons, womenare in excess of men. A large number of elderly personshave three or more surviving children; and in this regard,older men exceed women. During the thirty-year period,the proportions of elderly men and women with surviving


children have increased significantly.

Table 4.2

Older Persons by Number of Children


Men Women

Number of Children 1968 1998 1968 1998

None 11 5 18 11

One-two 30 26 42 30

Three or more 59 69 40 59

N 399 286 511 383

Grandchildren and Great-grandchildren

The grandchild has a special role in the emotional life of aperson and there is a high degree of intimacy betweengrandparents and grandchildren. The birth of a grandchildis an occasion of extreme happiness. It also marks thebeginning of a new phase of family life. To many, it signifiesthe starting of “old age”. The desire to see “tender legsplaying around” before one dies makes parents compeltheir children to get married at an early age. Most of theelderly persons who have married children havegrandchildren. But only 19 per cent have great-grandchildren in the second study and a much smallerpercentage in the first study; and among them only a fewerolder men are “blessed with” a great-grandchild. It is quitenatural that the proportion of the elderly women with great-grandchildren is much greater than the proportion of menbecause women marry earlier, become mothers earlier,


5SOCIAL SECURITY AND STATE POLICY

Social services are organized societal approaches to theamelioration or eradication of those conditions which areviewed at any historical point of time as unacceptableand for which knowledge and skills can be applied tomake them more acceptable (Beattie, Jr., 1976, p.619).The emergence of social security systems throughout theworld gave impetus to social responsibility for theprovision of different social services for the elderlydepending on the resources available to the countries andthe level of awareness as well as acceptance of the needsof older persons. The term “ Social Security” was firstused in the title of the United States legislation, the SocialSecurity Act of 1935. It was used in 1941 in the wartimedocument known as the Atlantic Charter. The ILOadopted the term. It adopted a Convention of MinimumStandards of Social Security in 1952 which has influencedmany social security measures all over the world.

Social security is included in List III of the seventhschedule of the Indian Constitution. Social security isthe concurrent responsibility of the central and stategovernments. Item 9 of the state list, and items 20, 23and 24 of the concurrent list relate to “social securityand social insurance”; and “welfare of labour includingconditions of work, provident funds, employers’ liability


for workmen’s compensation, invalidity and old agepensions, and maternity benefits”. The DirectivePrinciples of State Policy concerning social security inthe Constitution are Articles 38, 39, 41, 42 and 47. Article41 states as follows: “The state shall, within the limits ofits economic capacity and development, make effectiveprovision for securing the right to work, to education andto public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age,sickness and disablement, and in other cases ofundeserved want”. The Employees’ State Insurance Act(1948), the Employees’ Provident Funds andMiscellaneous Provisions Act (1952), and the Paymentof Gratuity Act (1972) are the major social securitylegislations since Independence for the benefit of theorganized labour. The Provident Funds Act wassupplemented in 1971 with a family pension scheme andin 1976 with a deposit-linked insurance scheme.

Social Insurance

Social insurance is one of the principal measures of socialsecurity designed to provide income security for theelderly in many countries. In India, government and quasi-government employees are eligible for pension, providentfund and gratuity. The system of government pensionflows from the Pension Act of 1871. Pension is based onthe principle of “pay-as-you-earn”which, in effect, meansthat the present working population pays for the old agesecurity of the elderly generation. A separate Department


of Pension and Pensioners’ Welfare was set up by thegovernment of India in 1985. The lot of the governmentpensioners has been improving through pensioners’associations, collective bargaining, political lobbying,litigation and government-appointed pay commissions.The employees in the organized sector of industries andbusiness establishments are entitled to provident fund andgratuity. However, some organizations in the private sectortoo give pension to their managerial, supervisory andsecretarial personnel. The government of India launcheda New Pension Scheme (NPS) in April 2008 and extendedit to all citizens from May 2009. This is the firstgovernment-designed pension product for citizens otherthan government and quasi-government employees, whoare covered by various old age benefit schemes. Accordingto a survey by the Invest India Economic Foundation,which was reported in The Week of March 22, 2009, theprotected Indian work force comprises 22 million peoplewho are government employees and another 15 millionpeople who are covered by various retirement savingschemes. NPS aims to cover 80 million people who arecapable of saving and investing at least Rs. 6000 perannum. The New Pension Scheme is claimed to be agovernment initiative to help the common man tide throughthe twilight years.

The provident fund system follows the principle of “save-as-you-earn”. Coverage under the Employees’ Provident


Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act is presentlyrestricted to establishments employing 20 or morepersons. The minimum rate of contribution under the actis either 8.33 or 10 per cent of the employee’s salarydepending on the industries to be notified by thegovernment of India. Employers are required to make amatching contribution. The savings are accumulated overthe working life of the workers in a trust fund, and thesum collected will be released in total together with interestat a predetermined age or at retirement.

In contrast to the provident fund which is a contributoryscheme made up of contributions by the employer andthe employee, gratuity is a lump sum paid by the employeralone as a benefit on retirement, resignation, death ordisablement. The Payment of Gratuity Act is applicableto factories, mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railwaycompanies, shops and other establishments employing10 or more persons. The payment of gratuity is subjectto the completion of a minimum continuous service offive years. It is payable at the rate of 15 days’ wagesbased on the wages last drawn by the employee for everycompleted year of service subject to a maximumpermissible amount of gratuity of Rs.3,50,000,which hasbeen enhanced to rupees one million recently.

Social Assistance

Social assistance in the form of means-tested old age


pension (OAP) has been introduced in all the states andunion territories for the destitute elderly persons, that is,those who have no source of income or have only nominalincome which is inadequate for survival and have no familymembers to support them. Uttar Pradesh was the firststate to initiate the scheme in 1957. The minimum age ofeligibility for old age pension is either 60 or 65 in most ofthe states, while some states prescribe lower age limitsfor women, widows and the disabled. The amount paidas pension ranges from state to state.

On August 15, 1995 the government of India launchedthe National Social Assistance Programme. Onecomponent of this programme is the National OldAge Pension Scheme (NAOPS). Central assistance ofRs.75 per month is granted to destitute persons above 65years. (In the 2011 budget, the age is reduced to 60.) Inthe 2006-2007 budget, the government of India hasenhanced the central assistance to Rs.200. The stategovernments can match this amount with additional grant.In Tamilnadu, the amount of old age pension now is Rs.500 per month. In Tamilnadu, the recipients of old agepension are also given 4 kg of rice every month andclothes (dhotis for men and sarees for women) twice ayear. OAP is also a populist measure for electoral gain. InHaryana, increase in the old age pension amount was anelectoral slogan in 1987. Implemented in 1987 with greatenthusiasm by the newly elected government, the political


commitment has become a “fiscal burden” to the stategovernment and payments were discontinued in February1990.The implementation of the old age pension schemeis unsatisfactory because of stringent eligibility provisions,procedural formalities, bureaucratic delays, and unhelpfulattitude of the officials (Soodan, 1979; Nayar, 1980;Mahajan, 1987).Payment of the OAP amount is normallydelayed. In Chennai city many receive OAP during thethird or last week of the month. The long wait is oftencompounded by the insensitivity of the delivery personnel.Postmen almost always deduct their “service charge”before handing over the amount which is even Rs.40.

In Tamilnadu, the Revenue Department is the implementingoffice of OAP and the Special Tahsildars (Distress ReliefSchemes) are the sanctioning authorities who areoverloaded with many responsibilities. OAP beneficiarieshave to be prepared for another major hurdle by way ofabrupt stopping of OAP. Getting the OAP benefit back isnot easy. Added to this strain is the denial of OAP amountfor the period of suspension. Sidhammal, a destitutewidow of Swaminathapuram village in Tamilnadu, wasdenied old age pension by the concerned officials on theground that she was making a living by begging and henceshe had a source of income. It was in September 1979.Left with no other option, she filed a writ petition beforethe Madras High Court in 1984. Following admission ofthe writ petition by the High Court, the Revenue Divisional


7CONCLUSION

Elderly people are increasing in number and in theirproportion to the total population in India, and as theydo, their needs are becoming more apparent. Some ofthese originate in the very process of aging ; others relateto psycho-social factors that affect personal and familyrelationships, and other social supports ; and yet othersresult from social, political and economic changes whichare worsening the conditions of many elderly. In order tohelp improve the situation of the elderly, some suggestionsare put forth before the government and non-governmentalagencies in the following sections.

Support to the Family

Social welfare policies need to give greater attention tomeet the needs of the family as a fundamental unit insociety, as well as to meet the needs of the individualmembers. Urgent measures are called for to supportfamilies caring for the elderly. The ability of the familyshould not be taken for granted and appropriate supportmechanisms should be devised. Although the seventh fiveyear plan (1985) has stated that “stress would be on furtherstrengthening the supportive services of the family”(p.308), serious follow-up action has not been taken. An


interministerial committee was set up in 1987 by thegovernment of India to plan and implement programmesfor the welfare of the elderly. But the committee hasbecome inactive. Some countries in the Asia Pacific regionprovide financial and other incentives to families tocontinue their care for elderly relatives (Selvaratnam, 1989,p.43). Policy initiatives to support caregiving families areneeded in India.

Rural Development

Rural-based elderly are less educated, and arepredominantly poor. They suffer, along with the rest ofthe rural population, from a lack of health infrastructureand other social service networks in the villages. In thepaper prepared for the World Assembly on Aging, thegovernment of India (1982) has acknowledged thevulnerability of the rural elderly and stated that it wouldbe necessary to devise appropriate day centres-cum-workprogrammes where the elderly can be assisted to earn(p.18). But follow-up measures have been found wanting.Rural development holds the key to the welfare of theolder persons as much as it is crucial for the integrateddevelopment of the country as a whole.

Human Resource Development

Older people are resources to the community. Ifencouraged to become fully engaged in the overalldevelopment efforts of the community, the capacity of


the older persons to learn as well as to acquire new skillswould soon become evident. The report of the governmentof India (1982) states that the experience and spare timeof the elderly should be put to use in community worksuch as adult literacy, welfare work among women,children and the handicapped, relief work, medical care,and legal aid (p.18). But the statement has not beentranslated into action. The elderly are human resourcesof considerable magnitude and potential. They have boththe desire and the capacity for continuing education,productive occupation and self-help. Enabling elderlypersons to participate in development would reducesubstantially the need for more welfare services.

Social Security

The 36th recommendation of the World Assembly onAging (1982b) states as follows:

Governments should take appropriate action to ensure toall older persons an appropriate minimum income, andshould develop their economies to benefit all thepopulation. To this end, they should :

a) Create or develop social security schemes based on theprinciple of universal coverage for older people. Wherethis is not feasible, other approaches should be tried, suchas payment of benefits in kind, or direct assistance tofamilies and local co-operative institutions;

b) Ensure that the minimum benefits will be enough to meetthe essential needs of the elderly and guarantee theirindependence (p.71).


Currently available old age pension schemes for the poor,which are being implemented by the states, are grosslyinadequate in scale and coverage, and illiberal in theirqualifying criteria. Social assistance for the elderly hasbeen premised on the assumption that only the destituteolder persons need state support. Thus, old age pensionschemes seem to be aimed at substituting the family ratherthan strengthening it by enlarging its capacity to look afterthe needs of the elderly members. A major reform of theseschemes should be topmost in the social security agenda.

India need not wait until it becomes affluent to evolve aneffective social security policy. In our context, socialsecurity has to be integrated with anti-povertyprogrammes. While anti-poverty strategies seek to reducethe number of people living in poverty, social securityshould be targeted towards the poorest deciles who failto be reached either by the growth process or by the anti-poverty programmes so as to prevent them fromregressing into destitution. This will necessitate formulationof measures for a blend of social insurance, socialassistance and social welfare. A national old age pensionscheme through an appropriate legislation is neededinstead of the present non-legislated measures. The socialsecurity programme in India is devoid of respect,compassion and above all gratitude to the elderly. A largenumber of older persons are deprived of basic supportto prevent poverty in old age. Social security should

Ageing in an Indian City- T K Nair

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