In India more than 8. 1 crore population is above 60 years of age. Its sums up to 8 percent of the total population of India. Uttar Pradesh has the largest population of senior citizens with 1. 5 crore, followed by Maharastra with 85 Lac, West Bengal with 57 Lac and Bihar with 55 Lac. More than 30% of this population is neglected and 48% of the neglected citizens are neglected and suffer at the hands of their own families.
Only 15% of them registers complaints on an average. About 90% of the problems faced by the senior citizens are related to property.A large number of these vulnerable citizens have been denied the basic necessities of life like food, clothing and home. These aged citizens not only need the basic necessities of life but they need care and affection at the same time. Grand children relationship with grand parents is very well known in Indian culture. Grand parents taking care of the children and home which helps them to spend their time is not an unknown fact in India.
But with the emergence of nuclear families, this relationship has come to an end and has brought more problems.A senior citizen is the most vulnerable individual in society today. In the capital of India, Delhi, each morning newspaper carries at least one story of murder or abuse or robbery. Change in lifestyle, migration, break up in joint family system and various other reasons, senior citizens are often left alone at the mercy of servants and neighbours. The Delhi police have set up a special senior citizens cell as a part of their moral duty towards the vulnerable citizens.
Yet much needs to be done to make the elderly feel secure with a sense of belongingness.Munshi Premchand’s eternal creation “Budhi Kaki” has been recently made into a bollywood movie by the name of “Baghban” which describes the state of elderly people. Not only films like “Baghban” and “Avtaar” have been a source of inspiration but many elderly people have lived up to life till the end which became a source of inspiration and sent a message of hope to everyone. A very few NGOs are working for the welfare of senior citizens today and most of which the elderly are not aware of.Through this website, we invite all senior citizens and NGOs to register and become members. Working in cohesiveness, we can bring a change in the lives of every one of us.
There is a need of a centralized center to take care of the various needs of the aged individuals. A strategic step must be taken to make sure that the problems and grievances of the elderly are taken care of on priority basis and they get quality service and support from government and society at large.
