A child’s kidnapping and his murder for ransom was the first ever case of its kind that shocked the people of the city of temples. People have still not recovered from the shock. Now the second shock, again the first of its kind, to the people of city of temples is mysterious death of an elderly couple in Trikuta Nagar in their own house.

The elderly lone couple with its female member sick and handicapped for long time and no one to look after them must be in really pitiable condition. The only they had was serving outside the state. Alone and in utter neglect the couple must have found it easier to end their lives than to live a miserable life. This today is the condition of many of the elderly people who are left alone in the house to fend for themselves after their long struggle during the prime of their life to give their best to their children, the community and the state. This ever growing community of Senior Citizens irrespective of class, community or religion is facing neglect at the hands of those for whom they spent their lives.

It is in this context that Association for Welfare Senior Citizens has been continuously pursuing state government to adopt a Policy on Older Persons in line with National Policy on Older Persons at the national level.

Although, J&K was the first state in the country to constitute State Level Advisory Council to address the problems of the Senior Citizens yet it has done pretty little to address the day to day problems faced by Older Persons both inside and outside their homes.

The State Level Council was constituted during the Governor’s Rule in 2008 vide Government Order No. 1428-GAD of 2008 dated 29-10-2008. The council headed by the Governor himself had Chief Secretary, Secretaries of GAD, Health and Medical Education, Social Welfare, 5-senior citizens from the Kashmir and 5- from Jammu regions as its members. Governor was very keen to hold the first meeting under his own chairmanship but immediately there-after the popular elected government under Omar Abdullah took over and till date not even a single meeting of the council was held inspite of repeated requests to Governor, C M, Advisor to the C M, Minister for Social Welfare, Secretary Social welfare and including the Chief Secretary.

On the national level a ‘National Policy for Older Persons’ NPOP) was adopted in 1999. NPOP extended extensive support for financial security, health care, shelter, welfare and other needs of the older persons. It seeks to provide protection against abuse and exploitation, make available opportunities for development of the potential of the older persons by enlisting their participation and providing services to improve their quality of life.

Many states in the country have already adopted NPOP but our state has yet to formulate such a policy at the state level. The state of Rajasthan is the latest in adopting NPOP by passing a legislation that seeks to disinherit the children who inherit the property of his Elders and does not look after his Elders in the family to lead a comfortable normal life for which a minimum sum of Rs 10,000/-per month has been fixed. The legislation also provides for a fine of Rs 5,000/- and jail term for 3-months for those who do not care for the comfort of their elders in violation of the legislation.

There is an urgent need of formulating similar State Policy on Elders in J&K. The state has not till date adopted Maintenance & Welfare of Parents/Elders Act, 2007.  The Act makes it obligatory on the children or relatives (who are likely to inherit the property of such Elders) of Senior Citizen, both mother and father and the obligation extends to the needs of such citizen so that the Senior Citizen leads a normal life.

It is unfortunate that our state has not so far taken any step in this direction and the Social Welfare Wing of the government appears to be quite apathetic towards adopting any such measures that may provide relief to the older persons at this difficult stage of their life.

Some of the sectors in which immediate action needs to be taken by the government for providing relief to the Elders of the Society in the state are Health Care, Physical Safety & Security, making Public Services user friendly, Provision for Shelters and Day-Care Homes, Utilizing Skills and Experience of elders, Special Focus on Vulnerable Groups like widows/disables/infirm/destitute, Helping and encouraging NGOs working for the welfare of Elders with financial and non financial measures.
It may be of interest to know here that Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, GOI under ‘Integrated Program for Older Persons’ has formulated as many as 16-welfare schemes for the Senior Citizens under which government offers 90% of the estimated cost of the schemes to NGOs for establishment and running the schemes. The schemes have to be routed through Social Welfare Ministry of the state government after their verification of the credential of the NGOs. Our ‘Association for Welfare of Senior Citizens AWSC has submitted two such schemes which after complete verification by the Social Welfare Dept are lying with the ministry for more than 5-months. AWSC has been waiting for sanction of the schemes to start a ‘day-care centre’ and ‘a Program for sensitizing the Children in schools and colleges’.

It is high time for the young Chief Minister to give serious thought to attending to the woes of the elders in his state and formulate and adopt policies, programs and Acts already adopted at the national level. Let's not forget that every one of us is going to pass through this stage of life and face the old age problems irrespective of his present status how so ever high it may be. And as a son he may be satisfied with whatever he is doing or he has done for his Elders in his family but as a Chief Minister it is his moral and ethical duty to take care of all the Senior Citizens of the state and make their life as comfortable as he can. Politically also the senior citizens constitute 9-10% of the total population of the state and form more than 25% of the ‘Vote Bank’.


(Er. Vikram Gour is President, Association for Welfare of Senior Citizens (Regd), Trikuta Nagar, Jammu. 180012)

Lastupdate on : Thu, 1 Jul 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Thu, 1 Jul 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Fri, 2 Jul 2010 00:00:00 IST