Essays

Do the senior citizens (60 plus for women; 65 plus for   (men of a country represent an asset or a handicap? A moot point, really.

Let us think of the pros and cons. Ironic as it may appear, longevity is a blessing but old age is a curse. While medical science through the years has been trying to prolong the span of human life, society shuns those very beings modern medicine helps live longer.

All over, the elderly are either taken for granted or seem to be ignored. They are not given their rights, often times left alone, maimed or simply done away with.  Often, their special needs are overlooked. They have no nccess to medicare or community activity. Not much of jelly family life either. Planning Commission does not provide anything specifically for them in its planning process for five-year term.

It is not rare to find rich and well-to-do young men and women turning into rickety paupers and living in Stark penury—their wealth and assets lost or taken away through means not beyond reproach

 Two nations may serve as instances: Japan and India. In spite of being the second largest economic power, Japan’s   24,000 homeless are invariably persons past their prime. Once part of the elite earning circle, they have now been forgotten by a country which they helped build brick by brick in the most crucial post-war era. What is even more sad is that they have been disowned by their families in a social pattern where wealth alone endears dears an aged folk to the members of his family or friends

In India, the picture is not much better. Given the level of deprivation and poverty, elderly persons find little love or respect even within the precincts of their hearths and homes. Their physical presence is tolerated as long as they can be on guard duty or baby sit or run odd errands. Once they are incapable of these, their existence is fraught with utter humiliation. Worse, if they become economically dependent, a burden. On being accommodative, Acharya Shree Tulsee has put it this way: "Mutual tolerance and when necessary, a willingness to sacrifice one's interests is the best recipe for bringing about the desired reform in the relations between the young and the old."

India's aged widows in places like Kashi, MathuraVrindavan and the southern centres of pilgrimage suffer even more in a community that can be frighteningly self centred, pitiless and blinded by senseless convention. With the global number of those above 60 expected to touch two billion by 2050—India already has 70 million of them, and this figure will be 177 million by 2025—the problem of the old needs to be addressed in a spirit of conviction and urgency,                              

Welfare of these former pillars of society ought to be   made part of a national agenda. There is also need to involve them in the scores of jobs ideally suited for them, and the Administration may enact legislation to ensure this. The country stands to lose without utilisation of their professional expertise and wisdom acquired through long years. The country cannot absolve itself of its responsibility' towards a group that was once highly productive. Judicious utilisation of this human resource could stand the country in good stead.

Avoid Getting Orthodox

While it's good to take the older things in their true value, it's certainly bad to refute anything that is new just because it is new.

So, be rational.