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Special Articles / H.M.Marulasiddaiah / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Makunti is a small, multi-caste, kin - oriented village located in the Malnad track of Karnataka. The people are generally following their traditional occupations according to their caste. The population of the village was 1,630 (850 males and 780 females) and the total number of households was 315.For the study, persons aged 55 and above were defined as old. Accordingly, there were 154 elderly persons (81 men and 73 women) in the village.
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Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Demography of Aging
Longevity is a triumph of humanity. It is the result mainly of declining fertility and mortality rates, and increasing survival at older ages. The global population of persons aged 60 years or over is projected to increase to one in five by 2050 according to the estimates of UNFPA and Helpage International (2012). The demographic profile of India in the UNFPA report poses great social, economic and political challenges to the central and state governments, families and non-governmental organizations. Special Articles / Kalpana Sampath / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Every country strives to provide the best way of life for the children, youth, and the senior citizens. If there was a section that was just not in the purview of the Indian mind a few decades back it was the senior citizens. They came under the family structure as a natural process of aging and weren’t considered the responsibility of the community or the state. But in the recent past, the issue of elderly care in India is gaining attention with an unimaginable speeding the cities as well as the rural areas. With the increasing pace of life and the process of globalization, this issue has gained importance. Factors like the increase in the average age of the population, migration into cities thus leaving the seniors to fend for themselves, the impetus given by the government regarding healthcare services have all led to the emergence of this situation and demand immediate solutions. The private institutions and NGOs play a vital role in providing sincere and excellent services. One such institution which has made its mark is the Nightingales Medical Trust (NMT). I am very glad to share the journey and wonderful contributions of NMT through this article.
Special Articles / K.N. Ajith / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Studies on ageing conclude that institutional care of the elderly is not desirable for their emotional well - being, though their basic needs of food, clothing and shelter are met by the homes for the aged. Further, such an approach for the welfare of the elderly would legitimize the segregation of the elderly from their homes and familiar surroundings. In financial terms, homes for the aged are costly propositions while the number of beneficiaries is very small. As an elder care service, institutionalization should be considered only as the last resort.
Special Articles / S. Siva Raju / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Background
The large scale social, economic and technological changes, which are taking place in the society have significantly transformed the pattern of formal and informal support systems available to the older people. With the growth of “Individualization” in modern industrial life and materialistic thinking among the younger generation, there is greater alienation and isolation of the elderly from their family members and from society at large. Given the changes, the elderly face a number of problems and adjust to varying degrees. These problems range from absence of ensured and sufficient income to support themselves and their dependents, to ill health, absence of social security, loss of social role and recognition, to the non-availability of opportunities for creative use of free time. Given the constraint of resources, care of elderly has received a low priority so far in planning and programming social security provisions and services. Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Social services for the elderly all over the world would fall into two broad categories: institutional care and community-based services.
Institutional Care Institutional care in ‘homes for the aged’ emerged as a favoured form of care of the elderly by the state, and the religious orders and voluntary organizations when the family was unable, negligent or unwilling to provide care to the older members. Institutionalization isolates the elderly from their homes and the community, and hence is an undesirable form of care of the elderly. Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Social services are organized societal approaches to the amelioration or eradication of those conditions which are viewed at any historical point of time as unacceptable and for which knowledge and skills can be applied to make them more acceptable (Beattie, Jr., 1976). The emergence of social security systems throughout the world gave impetus to social responsibility for the provision of different social services for the elderly depending on the resources available to the countries and the level of awareness as well as acceptance of the needs of older persons. The term “Social Security” was first used in the title of the United States legislation, the Social Security Act of 1935. It was used in 1941 in the wartime document known as the Atlantic Charter. The ILO adopted the term. It adopted a Convention of Minimum Standards of Social Security in 1952 which has influenced many social security measures all over the world.
Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Aging is a long term process of change for both individuals and populations. However, the concept and process of aging are surrounded by considerable controversy and suspect evidence. Human aging is a process of differentiation and individualization. Aging has two integral elements – intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic aging means those age-related processes that are internal and specific to the individual, while extrinsic aging comprises those age-related changes that are brought about by external factors related to the physical and social environment of the individual (United Nations,1982 ). Older persons, who were born at a particular historical time, and in a particular region and society, belong to a cohort sharing similar social and historical experiences, life-styles and other characteristics which differentiate them from other older persons born at different historical periods in diverse social situations. Individuals derive social meanings and develop expectations regarding themselves, their families and their society as they grow older from these processes of aging and within the context of social, historical, cultural and economic situations.
Special Articles / T.K. Nair / Old Age in an Indifferent Society (A study of 104 elderly persons aged 60 and above participating in a community care programme of CEWA)
Life satisfaction, “in the sense of a subjective feeling of well- being, depends both on external, material factors, as well as the internal dispositions of the ageing person “ (Brearley, 1978). The concept of satisfaction is, therefore, closely linked to the idea of adaptation to aging. Satisfaction in later years of life is dependent on being able to see a total pattern in life, which will not always be easy in the light of the past and present deprivations, hardships and problems that many older people experience. Life satisfaction is the outcome of self-comparison of what one desired with what one got. Special Articles / Unnikrishnan Payyappallimana / Old Age in an Indifferent Society India has experienced a major demographic transition in the past few decades resulting in a substantial increase in the aged population. Consequently there is increasing burden on the health system. Neither the current healthcare infrastructure nor the professional capacity is equipped to handle this situation. This is further challenged by the fact that there is no social security system in the country and over 80 percent of the health care is accessed through out of pocket expenditure. Changing social support systems, rapid urbanization, deteriorating environment further complicate the situation.
Special Articles / B. Devi Prasad / Old Age in an Indifferent Society Many of those who work with older people know that cases of elder abuse and neglect not only exist but abound. Elder abuse is the most pervasive yet an under recognized human rights violation in the world. It is also a profound health problem that saps energies of the elderly, compromises their physical and mental health, and erodes their personal dignity and self-esteem. Despite the high costs of abuse against the elderly, till two decades back, public institutions in almost every society seemed to lack an awareness in assessing the enormity of the problem.
Special Articles / K. Visweswara Rao / Old Age in an Indifferent Society In demographic terms, the 20th century was a century of population growth and the 21st century would be century of aging. The composition of age structure has been changing in India after independence and there is a steep increase in the elderly population. The percentage of child population below 14 years showed a substantial decline from 38.9 % to total population and would further decrease to 19.7 % by 2050 whereas the population of the elderly (60 +) will grow sizably from 5.6 %, in 1950 to 20.6 % by 2050. However, regional variations are found in population of elderly as in 11 states/union territories of India such as Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and others have more than the national average (7.5%). With the rapid changes in the social scenario and the emerging prevalence of nuclear family set-ups in India in recent years, the elderly people are likely to be exposed to emotional, physical and financial insecurity in the years to come. This has drawn the attention of the policy makers and administrators at central and state governments, voluntary organizations and civil society (Central Statistics Office, 2011).
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