Ageing in an Indian City

Ageing in an Indian City

T.K.Nair

Ageing in an Indian City

ISBN 10 : 81-7525-488-2
ISBN 13 : 978-81-7525-488-6
Copyright T.K. Nair
Authors email:tknair36@gmail.com
Published by:
eeswaar books
Plot 26, 2nd Cross Street (Appar Street), Kamakodi Nagar,
Valasarawakkam, Chennai 600087.
email: eeswar95@gmail.com
Tel: 044-2486 6163
First published in 2011
No part of this book shall be used without the prior written
permission of the publisher.
Cover design: K.Visesh & Goutham George
Printed at:
Sterling Prints & Conversions
710, Anna Salai, Nandanam,
Chennai 600 035
Price : ` 200
$ 25

Dedicated
to
my father late Sri.K.Thankappan Pillai
and
my mother late Smt.T.Lakshmi Amma

PROLOGUE
The increasing elderly population in India raises many
questions. How will we, and the future generations, deal
with the challenges posed by the aging of our population?
Can it be ensured that growing old will not mean, for the
majority, a further sliding down into poverty and
dependency? How can families be supported and
strengthened so that they can provide good quality of
care to the older members? How can the elderly be
empowered to look after themselves effectively?
Systematic planning and action are needed at the national
and state levels particularly in the areas of health care,
housing, income security, education and welfare in
responding to the needs of the elderly.
The International Plan of Action on Aging formulated
by the World Assembly on Aging in 1982 and adopted
by the United Nations General Assembly made, among
others, the following recommendation to national
governments:
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

vii

the Political Declaration adopted at the Second World

Assembly on Aging in April 2002 marked an important
landmark in the global approach to aging. The Plan has
three priority areas: older persons and development;
health and well-being; and ensuring enabling and
supportive environments.
Population aging in India has, of late, drawn the attention
of the policy framers of the country. A National Policy
on Older Persons (NPOP) with many promises was
announced in 1999. But the elected political leadership
has shown least interest in implementing the policy,
possibly because the older voters have not yet become a
vote bank. The implementation or non-implementation
of the policy is left to the discretion of the bureaucracy.
The priority for the elderly is low and there is serious
conviction deficit among those who matter in
implementing the NPOP. The NPOP contains pro-family
rhetoric and promises of health care initiatives for the
elderly. Non-governmental organizations were assured
of transparency, simplification of procedures and timely
release of grants. But a policy document cannot alter the
bureaucratic practices of decades. A social welfare
department official of the government of Tamilnadu told
The Hindu in August 2010 that the schemes of the
government of India for senior citizens elicited poor
response from the NGOs. Most of the older persons are
at the receiving end of the service delivery system and
viii

programmes are often developed without the participation

of the elderly themselves. The older persons are treated
as recipients and not as participants. Unless there is a
change in mindset among the political and bureaucratic
establishments, the NPOP will remain only a paper policy.
Fast GDP growth does not mean anything to the vast
majority of the elderly as former Union Minister Mani
Shankar Aiyar has recently commented sarcastically that
the GDP growth of 94 per cent of the Indians is only
0.94 per cent. A government that watches millions starve
while tonnes of food grains rot cannot be expected to
respond effectively to the needs of the elderly whose
collective voice is feeble. Exasperated by the continued
apathy of the state and central governments, a joint action
committee of senior citizens observed August 16, 2010
as the National Protest Day to stir up the conscience of
our rulers and the society, taking a cue from the warning
of the former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan: Senior
citizens, in spite of their number, collective wisdom
and experience, will continue to be ignored and
marginalized unless they unite.
A Personal Note
People dont grow old
When they stop growing,
they become old
Anonymous

ix

My parents never grew old, though they grew older.

My mother lived 89 years and my father 73 years. Both
of them were active till their last days. I was born in a
village Thiruvattar in the erstwhile Travancore state
nearly seventy five years ago. It was a typical village: no
electricity, no bus service, no school or doctor nearby
. At the same time, there was fresh air to breathe and
perennial flow of water in the river. My father was a
creative artist and his oil paintings were popular. I was
the only surviving child to my parents . From the age of
sixteen I had to be separated from my parents for college
education and subsequently for employment. Finally, I
became a permanent resident of Chennai. My parents
never liked to leave our village. But they immensely
missed me. The only compensation for the separation
was the occasional visits that I used to make with my
wife and children to meet my father and mother. After
the demise of my father, my mother joined us at Chennai
because of persistent persuasion. But she was never happy
with the constricting life in the city. This book on the
situation 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. For
more than four decades, he was Director of the institution.
He gave me the opportunity to direct two major research
studies on older people. I am beholden to Prof. George.
x

Prof.K.V.Ramana (formerly Vice - Chancellor of Andhra

University) has always been my well-wisher. A wellknown professor of social work and a distinguished social
scientist, he has been particular that all social work
teachers should pursue doctoral research. He motivated
me to work on a topic of significance in elder care
community care of the elderly for my doctoral
dissertation. I am deeply indebted to Prof.Ramana.
As policies of the government are often not based on
sound data base, it was difficult to answer queries of the
elderly 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 findings
of which are discussed in this book, could be carried out
successfully and I am grateful to the elderly men and
women for sharing their views.
I have postponed completion of this book many a time
due to many unforeseen circumstances. Finally my
daughter Miniis persistence and support enabled me to
complete this task. She did the typesetting of the
manuscript and helped in retrieving necessary
information from the internet sources. My fifteen - year
old granddaughter Reena also helped me.
My wife Thankam and I grew older together for nearly
fifty years. She never complained when I kept myself
busy with many of my academic and social work
xi

activities. Whether sickness or surgery, she always

remained calm and confident. She is a symbol of aging
gracefully.

Chennai
March 2011

T.K.Nair

xii

CONTENTS
Prologue
1. Aging and Old Age

vii
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

1
AGING AND OLD AGE
OLD AGE
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, 1982a, pp. 5-6). 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.

2 / Ageing in an Indian City

Old age is a relative concept which varies from society to

society. In fact, there are several explanations of old age
and we are likely to slip unknowingly from one to another.
Though aging is a universal process, identifying the
chronological threshold to old age is not possible.
Depending on the expectation of life, the definition of old
age is found to vary from about 40 in some developing
countries to 70 and beyond in some developed countries.
The common assumption is that the passage of time , as
measured by the chronological age , is a reliable index of
changes in our minds and bodies, and in our abilities and
limitations. But this assumption is highly erroneous which
is well illustrated by the example of compulsory retirement
(Kastenbaum, 1979,p.8). The age of 65 is still the most
frequent cut-off point for compulsory retirement in
developed countries although more diversity has been
shown lately. It is the institution of retirement which clearly
labelled a section of persons old. Social historians contend
that the social constructs of youth and old age have in
fact grown up after the industrial revolution (Aries,1962).
There is no scientific support for retirement at any
particular chronological age. These age markers have no
foundation in any biological reality. Instead, political
and economic reasons have been responsible for the
age-based retirement practice. In India, the mandatory
age of retirement of most of the personnel in government
service ranges from 55 to 60. Only a small section could

Ageing in an Indian City / 3

work till 65.

The World Assembly on Aging held in 1982 under the
auspices of the United Nations adopted the definition of
aging population as persons 60 years and older without
obscuring the great individual, societal and temporal
differences in actual and perceived characteristics of the
elderly population. The United Nations (1985) report
adds that such a demarcation is convenient only for
statistical analysis (pp. 4 - 5).
The Census of India has been adopting the age of 60
years to classify a person as old. Gerontologist Neugarten
(1974) points out that, with increased survival rates and
improved health, it is becoming apparent that there are
two, rather than one, strata of aging population, which
she has distinguished as the young-old (upto 74 years)
and the old-old (75 years and above). Ayurveda, the
traditional system of Indian medicine, divides human life
span into ten stages and categorizes the aging persons
into two broad groups :Vriddha (60 to 80 years) and
Jaratha (above 80 years).
The definition of old age is dependent on the cultural
norms and social context of any society. In India,
Shashtiabdapurthi, which means the completion of 60
years, is traditionally celebrated as a significant milestone,
while the completion of 70 years is celebrated as
Sapthadi, which is an achievement in the life span of an
individual. It is the duty of the offsprings to celebrate

4 / Ageing in an Indian City

these milestones. But these are observed only by the wellto-do and those belonging to the upper castes. In most
of the societies under the influence of Chinese culture,
the sixty-first birthday has been associated with the
beginning of old age (Maeda, 1978 , p. 47). In ancient
China, the calendar year was named with the combination
of two sets of Chinese characters one consisted of
twelve characters and the other five characters. Therefore,
on becoming sixty-one years old, the name of that year
becomes same as that of the year of birth. Hence the
sixty- first year after birth is called Kanreki (return of
the calendar) which is often regarded as the beginning of
second childhood. In Japan many people used to hold a
passing rite to mark Kanreki. At the time of the ceremony
of Kanreki, the person becoming sixty-one used to be
presented by the children and relatives with a red vest
designed to signify the coming of second childhood.
Generally speaking, people of sixty years of age and
over are not obliged to work to earn money. In other
words, kanreki signifies the social sanction permitting
entry into Inkyo, meaning retired life, though most
Japanese elderly people continue to work. But now the
concept of old age is changing greatly in Japan. Age sixty
marks a universally accepted point in time for entry into
the oldest generation in China (Friedmann, 1983, p.3).
Consequently, in terms of social functioning, the years
between fifty and sixty are a transition period in which

Ageing in an Indian City / 5

Chinese men and women come increasingly to be seen

by others and by themselves as old, while the years after
sixty mark a clearcut turning point and are virtually always
designated as the years of old age.
The marriage of ones children particularly of ones sons
marks the beginning of old age in Indian society far
more clearly than does the passing of a specified number
of years. This is especially so for women (Vatuk, 1975,
p. 151). The arrival of grandchildren is strongly associated
with the onset of old age in Indian and many other
societies. The birth of a first grandchild also encourages
self identification as an old person. For those persons
who had their child at about eighteen and whose first
born also had a first child at eighteen, grandparenthood
can come as early as age thirty-five or thirty-six. The
effects of the family life cycle may have different
implications for people living in different cultures. In
societies, where marriage and child bearing occur at young
ages, persons may achieve the old age status of
grandparent while in their thirties as discussed earlier. In
other contexts, where childbearing is delayed because of
the desire of young women for education and work
experience, persons attain this status at more advanced
ages. Thus, even if persons are defined as elderly with
reference to similar social roles, there are great differences
among societies in the chronological age at which such
roles are attained (United Nations, 1985, p.5).

6 / Ageing in an Indian City

Society has another way of classifying people by age.

Anthropologists refer to this as age-grading. It has been
the most important basis of age distinction in many
societies. Age is a very important element of social
organization that anthropologists are convinced that agegrading is a universal feature in the assignment of social
roles, rights and responsibilities in modern as well as preindustrial societies though the nature of the criteria used
in the distribution of roles varies. As people encounter
the sequence of age-graded roles, rites of passage are
one of the mechanisms used by society to indicate their
movement from one phase of the life cycle to the next.
Originally such rites were celebrated by highly ritualized
ceremonies and had as their function the provision of an
institutionalized means for facilitating the cessation of
certain behaviour and the introduction of a new set of
expectations (Hendricks & Hendricks, 1977, pp.8-12).
Age-grading can be as powerful as chronological age in
shaping a persons life. The rules of behaviour are often
quite different for the various grades. This means that
moving from adulthood to old age can have different
implications, according to the rules that characterize a
particular societys age-grading. Age-grading establishes
guidelines as to who should do what kind of work and
who owes what kind of obligation to whom, and so on.
In a thoroughly age-graded society, everybody has a pretty
good idea of what he or she is supposed to be doing at a

28 / Ageing in an Indian City

2
DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
POPULATION AGING: A GLOBAL OVERVIEW
Demographic aging of populations is a twentieth century
phenomenon. A combination of factors such as control
of perinatal and infant mortality as well as many infectious
diseases, improvement in nutrition, basic health care, and
decline in birth and mortality rates has resulted in an
increasing number and proportion of persons surviving
into the advanced stages of life in many regions of the
world. Population aging refers to changes in the age
structure of a population as a whole with increasing
proportions of persons defined as elderly in the
population. In 1950, according to United Nations estimates
(Table 2.1), there were more than 200 million persons 60
years of age and over throughout the world. By 1975,
their number had increased to approximately 350 million.
United Nations projections indicate that the number will
increase to over 1,100 million by 2025; that is, an increase
of 224 per cent since 1975. During this same period, the
worlds population as a whole is expected to increase
from 4.1 billion to 8.2 billion, an increase of 102 per cent
(United Nations, 1982 b, p.50). Thus, fifteen years from
now the elderly will constitute 13.7 per cent of the worlds
population. In 1975 slightly over half of all persons aged

Ageing in an Indian City / 29

60 and over lived in the developing countries. Owing to

the differential rates of increase, by the year 2000 over 60
per cent of all older persons in the world were living in
the developing countries and it is anticipated that the
proportion will reach nearly three-quarters by 2025.
Table 2.1
Number of 60+ Persons and Percentage Distribution in the World
Area
a.

World

b.

1950

1975

2000

2025

Number of persons 60 years of

age and over (In million)
214

346

590

1121

More developed regions

95

166

230

315

Less developed regions

119

180

360

806

Percentage of population 60 years of

age 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 older

persons is accompanied by a change in the populations
age structure. A declining proportion of children in a
population increases the proportion of older persons.
Thus, according to the United Nations (1982b)
projections, the population aged less than 15 years in the
developing regions is expected to decline from about 41
per cent of the total population in 1975 to 26 per cent in

30 / Ageing in an Indian City

2025. At the same time, the population of 60 years and

over, in the same regions, is expected to increase from 6
per cent in 1975 to 12 per cent in 2025, thus reaching the
level observed in the developed regions in the 1950s. In
the developed regions, the population below the age of
15 is expected to decline from 25 per cent in 1975 to 20
per cent in 2025; however, the group aged 60 and over is
expected to increase as a proportion of the total
population from 15 per cent in 1975 to 23 per cent in
2025. These statistics are averages concerning vast
regions, whereas considerable variations exist between
countries and at the subnational level (p.50).
Fertility and mortality are the dynamic factors that
influence population change, both in size and
composition. The process of population aging is a
function of these basic demographic factors that are
usually described by the term demographic transition.
Myers (1982) says that in its most simple form,
demographic transition denotes the shift from high to
low levels of mortality and fertility, during which process
fairly low rates of population growth yield to significantly
higher levels and then fall back to low growth rates once
again(p.4). High levels of both mortality and fertility would
cause a youthful age structure. When fertility begins to
decline, the youthful segment of the population (in the 014 age group) is reduced and the population in the older
age groups increases. The population then can be said to

Ageing in an Indian City / 31

be aging. Countries undergoing demographic transition

experience high fertility and low mortality rates. The
proportion of older persons in their populations remains
low while their number increases substantially. This is what
is happening in many developing countries today. This
could develop a tendency to overlook the seemingly
contradictory phenomenon that the number of elderly is
actually increasing in developing countries. Myers (1982)
cautions that equal attention should be given to growth in
the number of older persons, because both are
complementary forces operating in a society and would
give rise to particular social issues of importance (p.2).
The developing countries are attempting to lower their
fertility rates in order to achieve the level of progress and
development they desire. While considerable attention,
and rightly so, is focused on birth control and provision
of health care, education and other services to the growing
cohorts of the young, relatively little attention has been
given to the longer term consequences of successful birth
control measures and improved life expectancy at birth.
A proper balance between social, economic and
environmental factors and changes in population structure
is necessary for sustained development. The World
Assembly on Aging made an important distinction between
humanitarian and developmental concerns regarding the
elderly. The humanitarian issues relate to meeting the
specific needs of the elderly including requirements for

32 / Ageing in an Indian City

healthcare, nutrition, housing, a safe environment, family

support, social welfare services, employment
opportunities, income security, and education. The
developmental issues relate to the socio-economic
implications of the aging of the population (United
Nations, 1982 b, pp.51-52).
POPULATION AGING IN INDIA
Age Structure
Mukherjees (1976) analysis of the Indian population
shows that the percentage of the population sixty years
and above has risen over the past century by only 0.72
per cent from 5.25 per cent of the total in 1881 to 5.97
per cent in 1971, with periodic downward fluctuations in
some of the intervening census years (p.97). This is so
despite the massive increase in Indias population from
approximately 238 million in 1901 to 548 million in 1971
(Registrar General, 1984, Part I, p.23).
The nearly static age structure of Indias population is
primarily a consequence of consistently high rate of fertility
despite decline in mortality rate during this period. But
there is a trend, though not very significant, towards
change in the age structure of the Indian population as
seen from the census data from 1961 to 1981 (Table 2.2).
A decline in the proportion of population in 0-4 age group
indicates a fall in birth rate within the past five years, and
a decline in the 5-9 age groups would reflect

Ageing in an Indian City / 33

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

5.63

5.96

6.49

7.44

60+

* Excludes Assam
Sources : Registrar General& Census Commissioner for India,
Census of India, 1981, Series-1, India, Report and
Tables 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, the

percentage of the population aged 0-9 was similar in 1961
and 1971, that is, 29.79 and 29.47 respectively, but it
declined to 26.66 in 1981 indicating a decline in fertility
during the 1970s. Further, the decline in the percentage of
population during 1971-81 is greater in the 0-4 age group
than in the 5-9 age group, indicating a comparatively faster
decline during the second half of the 1970s than during
the first half. Correspondingly, there is a slight increase in
the proportions of population in the 15-59, and 60 and
above age groups in 1981 as compared to 1961. The
declining trend in the percentages of population in the 0-4

46 / Ageing in an Indian City

3
AGING IN INDIAN SOCIETY
AGING AND THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE
Aging takes place in a given social structure and the care
of the elderly is dependent on the way the social structure
responds to the needs of the older members of the society.
Social structure is a system of positions, roles and
statuses. Social position is the identity of a person in the
social structure in relation to the other members who too
have distinct positions. Each position involves the
performance of a set of socially specified tasks or roles
and carries certain privileges such as power, prestige and
security which together constitute social status (D
Souza, 1982, p.72). Social structure is an evolving,
changing entity with interdependence among its component
parts. The social institutions, which are the components
of the social structure, are the established and organized
ways of meeting social needs in a distinct area of social
function (Pathak, 1981, p.9). Changes in the social
structure lead to a chain effect involving changes in the
components themselves. In other words, structural
changes in society bring about changes in the positions,
roles and statuses of particular persons.
The village community is the bedrock of the traditional

Ageing in an Indian City / 47

Indian social structure, which has survived through the

centuries .The joint family and the caste structure are the
principal components of the village community. The village
represents an organized social structure with division of
labour among the various caste groups. It is the centre of
life for an individual where one belongs, where one has
roots, and where one can find a sense of security within
the protective circle of ones kinship group. In Dubes
(1955) words:
Village communities all over the Indian sub-continent
have a number of common features. The village settlement,
as a unit of social organization, represents a solidarity
different from that of the kin, the caste and the class, and
plays a vital role as an agency of socialization and social
control (p.7).

Caste, kin group, joint family, services and land are the
major elements of the traditional Indian rural society. Caste
determined the services to be rendered by the families
which, in turn, decided the control of land. Within the
family, the senior most man was the head. He was
responsible for the management of property, care of all
persons in the household, and education and marriage of
younger members. The elders, being the heads of the
families, were also the leaders of the kin group, caste and
village. They were the members of the village panchayat.
Srinivas (1955) observes that the elders of the dominant
peasant caste in Rampura village, where he conducted
the study, administer justice not only to members of

48 / Ageing in an Indian City

their own caste group but also to all persons of other

castes who seek their intervention (p.18). By tradition it
was usually the oldest generation who wielded power and
influence in the villages. No important decision, whether
it concerned the arrangements for a marriage, the
allocation and use of land, or the settlement of a dispute
was made without first consulting the senior members of
the community. In the traditional Indian system, the
authority of the elders had the sanctity of the scriptures.
The respect and reverence for parental authority was so
embedded in the young minds that they could not think
of differing from or raising their voice against them.
The principle of seniority in the joint family as well as
in the village community was supported by the cultural
system characteristic of peasant societies. In a society
where change is slow, the solutions of yesterday for the
problems of life are still valid today (Gore, 1968, pp.1314).The older man had, therefore, higher rank. The
traditional rural society, thus, conferred pre-eminent
position to the elderly. The older the man, the greater was
his responsibility, the more were his roles and the higher
was his status. Experience is a requisite of the agricultural
society. As experience grows with age, the elders
commanded greater respect and position. They were the
keepers of tradition and folklore. They were considered
the repositories of wisdom, knowledge, experience and

Ageing in an Indian City / 49

skills, and were treated with deference and veneration.

But the socio-cultural-economic context which conferred
a pre-eminent position to the elderly in the family, the kin
group and the village community has been changing in
structure and functions. Political democracy; universal
franchise; 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, inheritance
and right to property; monetization of the economy;
improved communication with the outside world;
dissemination of information through mass media; exodus
of the young to the towns and cities; pressure of
urbanization; and impact of development programmes,
particularly for family planning, education of girls and
womens employment, are the major forces that have
contributed to the structural and institutional changes in
Indian society. In this process the solidarity of the
traditional joint family and the village community is
experiencing the impact of these changes.
The central themes of discussion on the situation of the
elderly in India are the structural changes that have been
taking place in Indian society, the concomitant decline of
the joint family system, and the consequent neglect of the
elderly by their families and loss of their status in
communities. DSouza (1982) takes the extreme view that

50 / Ageing in an Indian City

because of the fundamental changes taking place in the

Indian social structure, the older people are losing the
status and security which they enjoyed in the traditional
Indian society. He adds that the traditional society by
way of socio-cultural arrangements provided the elderly
with crutches which helped them cope with their
difficulties which are now crumbling and left to themselves
most older people would be unable to lead a satisfactory
and dignified life (p.78).
THE JOINT FAMILY AND THE CARE OF THE ELDERLY
Indian society has always been described as one which
provides the elderly a secure place -- both materially and
emotionally -- within their families. The Hindu religious
literature prescribes respect and obedience to ones elders.
The two epics -- Mahabharatha and Ramayana -- show
numerous instances of filial reverence by sons and
daughters. The Upanishads remind the Hindus to treat
the parents as Gods Mathru devo bhava and Pitru
devo bhava. Adult sons are enjoined to remain in the
parental home even after their marriage, and to repay with
love, respect and tender care the sacrifices of their parents
in giving birth to them and for bringing them up from
infancy. Care during illness or incapacity is considered
by most Indians to be the responsibility of adult sons
and their wives. Among the vast majority of the people, a

Ageing in an Indian City / 51

strong element of shame is associated with having to rely

upon ones daughter for support or for personal services
of any kind. It is also considered a family disgrace to
leave the parents in the care of non-kins.
The traditional Indian family is the joint family which has
been portrayed as a well- integrated kinship unit with the
eldest male occupying the position of authority. In
Mandelbaums (1972) words, Indian village society is
patrilineal and virilocal except for a few matrilineal groups,
notably the Nayars of Kerala (p.35). He adds that any
cogent analysis of the joint family must include the
concepts of patrilineal ties and virilocal residence, of
proper relations between father and son as well as between
brother and brother shared by most Indian villagers. The
family members are expected to form one solidarity, living
in one household as long as possible, and supporting
each other. A family may be physically separated, even
legally split, yet the brothers may continue to act as a
functioning family (Mandelbaum, 1972, p.45). The joint
family is the principal unit of economic production as
well as of consumption. The members of this unit have
strong feelings of mutual obligation and the acceptance
of the authority of age or seniority helps maintain the joint
family.
The veneration of the elderly in the joint family was
perfected by the practice of ancestor worship. When the

Ageing in an Indian City / 67

4
CHENNAI CITY AND ITS ELDERLY
THE CITY AND THE PEOPLE
Francis Day and Andrew Cogan of the English East India
Company set up a small trading post in a village on the
Coromandel coast in 1639, which grew into a
metropolitan city. Named Madras in 1653, the city was
renamed Chennai in 1996. Chennai, the fourth largest
city in the country, is the capital of the state of Tamilnadu.
Chennais population according to the 2001 census was
4.34 million spread over an area of 174 square kilometres.
In July 2009, the state government announced the merger
of some municipalities, town panchayats and village
panchayats with the Chennai corporation, which will have
an area of more than 400 square kilometres.
Chennai is an important industrial and commercial centre
in the country, particularly in the manufacturing,
automobile and health care sectors. Despite its impressive
performance in the sphere of economic development,
large sections of the city population are not able to get
the benefits of development as is the situation in the
country as a whole. Among the countrys metropolitan
cities, Chennai is the poorest with the least per capita
income, while the density of population is one of the
highest in the world with 24963 persons per square

68 / Ageing in an Indian City

kilometre according to 2001 census. The well-known

Mercers Quality of Living Survey, which covered
221 cities worldwide in 2009, ranked Chennai 152.
The survey report states that while the city boasts of
well-healed star hospitals run as corporate profit centres,
the poor are left in the lurch even for basic health care
services.
One-fourth of the Chennai population live in
slums according to the 2001 census. This is anything but
a conservative estimate. The acute scarcity of
accommodation and the heavy demand for houses have
prompted the owners of buildings to maximize profits
through short-cuts. Neglect of upkeep and lack of
maintenance of buildings and partitioning houses into
portions without consideration for space, ventilation,
water supply and environmental hygiene have made pucca
structures in many areas worse than slums of mud and
thatch.
Slums pockmark the length and breadth of the city. They
are scattered throughout the city on the banks of water
courses and embankments of drains, near industrial
establishments, under and around railway bridges, on
vacant lands, on and around dumping grounds and
graveyards. The proportion of people living in slums of
mud and thatch, and those living in substandard dwellings
would be more than 40 per cent of the people in Chennai
city. These vulnerable sections, who are occupying

Ageing in an Indian City / 69

dwelling units which are unfit for human habitation, keep

the city ticking. They constitute a significant part of the
work force of Chennai, who work as maids, construction
workers, plumbers, electricians, painters, scavengers, etc.
They live and grow old in the midst of misery braving the
miasma. In Chennai city, persons aged 60 and above were
8.1 per cent of the total population according to the 2001
census. In contrast to the sex-ratio of 957 among the
Chennai population, the sex-ratio among the elderly
segment was 1022. Among the older persons in the city,
the young-old (below 70) constituted 60.8 per cent and
the old-old (70 and above) 39.2 per cent.
A Comparative Analysis
Two studies on the elderly in Chennai city were conducted
by the author in 1968 and 1998, respectively. Both the
studies had covered statistically sufficient and efficient
probability samples: 910 in 1968 (399 men and 511
women), and 669 in 1998 (286 men and 383 women).
The 1968 study (Nair, 1972) was analogous to the crossnational studies on aging in six countries and was
sponsored by the United States government, while the
1998 study was the outcome of a research grant from the
Sandoz Foundation for Gerontological Research. The
thirty-year gap between the two studies is coincidental.
This coincidence proved useful to make an analysis of
the situation of the elderly in Chennai city in two points in
time. Only certain selected aspects have been included
for the comparative analysis.

70 / Ageing in an Indian City

FAMILY LIFE OF THE ELDERLY

In all societies, the family is the fundamental
multipurpose organization for many of the principal life
functions of the individual and of society (Mandelbaum,
1972, p.33). So crucial are family relations to a
whole society that it is sometimes difficult to resist
portraying them as though they were the single core of
social relations. The family life of the elderly has been
studied with reference to marital status, family structure
and living arrangement.
Marital Status
Advancing age normally deprives men and women of their
life partners. Bereavement of spouse is more common
among elderly women primarily because of the substantial
age difference between bridegrooms and brides at
the time of marriage. Nearly nine out of ten women
were widows in the first study, whereas about three-fourths
of the elderly women were widows in the second
Table 4.1
Older Persons by Marital Status
(Percentage Distribution)
Men
Marital Status

Women

1968

1998

1968

1998

Married

72

81

13

26

Widow/ Widower

25

16

86

73

Others
N

399

286

511

383

Ageing in an Indian City / 71

study. Widowhood is often accompanied by dependence

on children or other relatives. A large number of older
men, in contrast, are married, thus ensuring themselves
of companionship and care in old age. The decrease in
the proportion of widows and widowers can be attributed
to the decline in mortality rate.
Children
Social security and living arrangement of older people
are dependent not only on the number of children, but
also on whether the children are all sons, all daughters, or
both sons and daughters. Having a son is a decisive factor
in the structural closeness between parents and children.
Children of both sexes are strong reinforcing factor
enhancing the likelihood of togetherness and nearness.
The emotional experiences too differ between parents and
sons, and parents and daughters. The sex of children
also determines how soon one would become a
grandparent. Older people with daughters become
grandparents earlier than older people with sons. Nine
out of every ten elderly women and more than nine out of
ten elderly men have surviving children according to the
1998 study. Among the childless older persons, women
are in excess of men. A large number of elderly persons
have 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

72 / Ageing in an Indian City

children have increased significantly.

Table 4.2
Older Persons by Number of Children
(Percentage Distribution)
Men
Number of Children

1968

Women
1998

1968

1998

None

11

18

11

One-two

30

26

42

30

Three or more
N

59

69

40

59

399

286

511

383

Grandchildren and Great-grandchildren

The grandchild has a special role in the emotional life of a
person and there is a high degree of intimacy between
grandparents and grandchildren. The birth of a grandchild
is an occasion of extreme happiness. It also marks the
beginning of a new phase of family life. To many, it signifies
the starting of old age. The desire to see tender legs
playing around before one dies makes parents compel
their children to get married at an early age. Most of the
elderly persons who have married children have
grandchildren. But only 19 per cent have greatgrandchildren in the second study and a much smaller
percentage in the first study; and among them only a fewer
older men are blessed with a great-grandchild. It is quite
natural that the proportion of the elderly women with greatgrandchildren is much greater than the proportion of men
because women marry earlier, become mothers earlier,

Ageing in an Indian City / 97

5
SOCIAL SECURITY AND STATE POLICY
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, p.619).
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.
Social security is included in List III of the seventh
schedule of the Indian Constitution. Social security is
the concurrent responsibility of the central and state
governments. Item 9 of the state list, and items 20, 23
and 24 of the concurrent list relate to social security
and social insurance; and welfare of labour including
conditions of work, provident funds, employers liability

98 / Ageing in an Indian City

for workmens compensation, invalidity and old age

pensions, and maternity benefits. The Directive
Principles of State Policy concerning social security in
the Constitution are Articles 38, 39, 41, 42 and 47. Article
41 states as follows: The state shall, within the limits of
its economic capacity and development, make effective
provision for securing the right to work, to education and
to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age,
sickness and disablement, and in other cases of
undeserved want. The Employees State Insurance Act
(1948), the Employees Provident Funds and
Miscellaneous Provisions Act (1952), and the Payment
of Gratuity Act (1972) are the major social security
legislations since Independence for the benefit of the
organized labour. The Provident Funds Act was
supplemented in 1971 with a family pension scheme and
in 1976 with a deposit-linked insurance scheme.
Social Insurance
Social insurance is one of the principal measures of social
security designed to provide income security for the
elderly in many countries. In India, government and quasigovernment employees are eligible for pension, provident
fund and gratuity. The system of government pension
flows from the Pension Act of 1871. Pension is based on
the principle of pay-as-you-earnwhich, in effect, means
that the present working population pays for the old age
security of the elderly generation. A separate Department

Ageing in an Indian City / 99

of Pension and Pensioners Welfare was set up by the

government of India in 1985. The lot of the government
pensioners has been improving through pensioners
associations, collective bargaining, political lobbying,
litigation and government-appointed pay commissions.
The employees in the organized sector of industries and
business establishments are entitled to provident fund and
gratuity. However, some organizations in the private sector
too give pension to their managerial, supervisory and
secretarial personnel. The government of India launched
a New Pension Scheme (NPS) in April 2008 and extended
it to all citizens from May 2009. This is the first
government-designed pension product for citizens other
than government and quasi-government employees, who
are covered by various old age benefit schemes. According
to a survey by the Invest India Economic Foundation,
which was reported in The Week of March 22, 2009, the
protected Indian work force comprises 22 million people
who are government employees and another 15 million
people who are covered by various retirement saving
schemes. NPS aims to cover 80 million people who are
capable of saving and investing at least Rs. 6000 per
annum. The New Pension Scheme is claimed to be a
government initiative to help the common man tide through
the twilight years.
The provident fund system follows the principle of saveas-you-earn. Coverage under the Employees Provident

100 / Ageing in an Indian City

Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act is presently

restricted to establishments employing 20 or more
persons. The minimum rate of contribution under the act
is either 8.33 or 10 per cent of the employees salary
depending on the industries to be notified by the
government of India. Employers are required to make a
matching contribution. The savings are accumulated over
the working life of the workers in a trust fund, and the
sum collected will be released in total together with interest
at a predetermined age or at retirement.
In contrast to the provident fund which is a contributory
scheme made up of contributions by the employer and
the employee, gratuity is a lump sum paid by the employer
alone as a benefit on retirement, resignation, death or
disablement. The Payment of Gratuity Act is applicable
to factories, mines, oilfields, plantations, ports, railway
companies, shops and other establishments employing
10 or more persons. The payment of gratuity is subject
to the completion of a minimum continuous service of
five years. It is payable at the rate of 15 days wages
based on the wages last drawn by the employee for every
completed year of service subject to a maximum
permissible amount of gratuity of Rs.3,50,000,which has
been enhanced to rupees one million recently.
Social Assistance
Social assistance in the form of means-tested old age

Ageing in an Indian City / 101

pension (OAP) has been introduced in all the states and

union territories for the destitute elderly persons, that is,
those who have no source of income or have only nominal
income which is inadequate for survival and have no family
members to support them. Uttar Pradesh was the first
state to initiate the scheme in 1957. The minimum age of
eligibility for old age pension is either 60 or 65 in most of
the states, while some states prescribe lower age limits
for women, widows and the disabled. The amount paid
as pension ranges from state to state.
On August 15, 1995 the government of India launched
the National Social Assistance Programme. One
component of this programme is the National Old
Age Pension Scheme (NAOPS). Central assistance of
Rs.75 per month is granted to destitute persons above 65
years. (In the 2011 budget, the age is reduced to 60.) In
the 2006-2007 budget, the government of India has
enhanced the central assistance to Rs.200. The state
governments 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 age
pension are also given 4 kg of rice every month and
clothes (dhotis for men and sarees for women) twice a
year. OAP is also a populist measure for electoral gain. In
Haryana, increase in the old age pension amount was an
electoral slogan in 1987. Implemented in 1987 with great
enthusiasm by the newly elected government, the political

102 / Ageing in an Indian City

commitment has become a fiscal burden to the state

government and payments were discontinued in February
1990.The implementation of the old age pension scheme
is unsatisfactory because of stringent eligibility provisions,
procedural formalities, bureaucratic delays, and unhelpful
attitude of the officials (Soodan, 1979; Nayar, 1980;
Mahajan, 1987).Payment of the OAP amount is normally
delayed. In Chennai city many receive OAP during the
third or last week of the month. The long wait is often
compounded 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 implementing
office of OAP and the Special Tahsildars (Distress Relief
Schemes) are the sanctioning authorities who are
overloaded with many responsibilities. OAP beneficiaries
have to be prepared for another major hurdle by way of
abrupt stopping of OAP. Getting the OAP benefit back is
not easy. Added to this strain is the denial of OAP amount
for the period of suspension. Sidhammal, a destitute
widow of Swaminathapuram village in Tamilnadu, was
denied old age pension by the concerned officials on the
ground that she was making a living by begging and hence
she had a source of income. It was in September 1979.
Left with no other option, she filed a writ petition before
the Madras High Court in 1984. Following admission of
the writ petition by the High Court, the Revenue Divisional

130 / Ageing in an Indian City

7
CONCLUSION
Elderly people are increasing in number and in their
proportion to the total population in India, and as they
do, their needs are becoming more apparent. Some of
these originate in the very process of aging ; others relate
to psycho-social factors that affect personal and family
relationships, and other social supports ; and yet others
result from social, political and economic changes which
are worsening the conditions of many elderly. In order to
help improve the situation of the elderly, some suggestions
are put forth before the government and non-governmental
agencies in the following sections.
Support to the Family
Social welfare policies need to give greater attention to
meet the needs of the family as a fundamental unit in
society, as well as to meet the needs of the individual
members. Urgent measures are called for to support
families caring for the elderly. The ability of the family
should not be taken for granted and appropriate support
mechanisms should be devised. Although the seventh five
year plan (1985) has stated that stress would be on further
strengthening the supportive services of the family
(p.308), serious follow-up action has not been taken. An

Ageing in an Indian City / 131

interministerial committee was set up in 1987 by the

government of India to plan and implement programmes
for the welfare of the elderly. But the committee has
become inactive. Some countries in the Asia Pacific region
provide financial and other incentives to families to
continue their care for elderly relatives (Selvaratnam, 1989,
p.43). Policy initiatives to support caregiving families are
needed in India.
Rural Development
Rural-based elderly are less educated, and are
predominantly poor. They suffer, along with the rest of
the rural population, from a lack of health infrastructure
and other social service networks in the villages. In the
paper prepared for the World Assembly on Aging, the
government of India (1982) has acknowledged the
vulnerability of the rural elderly and stated that it would
be necessary to devise appropriate day centres-cum-work
programmes 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 the
older persons as much as it is crucial for the integrated
development of the country as a whole.
Human Resource Development
Older people are resources to the community. If
encouraged to become fully engaged in the overall
development efforts of the community, the capacity of

132 / Ageing in an Indian City

the older persons to learn as well as to acquire new skills

would soon become evident. The report of the government
of India (1982) states that the experience and spare time
of the elderly should be put to use in community work
such 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 been
translated into action. The elderly are human resources
of considerable magnitude and potential. They have both
the desire and the capacity for continuing education,
productive occupation and self-help. Enabling elderly
persons to participate in development would reduce
substantially the need for more welfare services.
Social Security
The 36th recommendation of the World Assembly on
Aging (1982b) states as follows:
Governments should take appropriate action to ensure to
all older persons an appropriate minimum income, and
should develop their economies to benefit all the
population. To this end, they should :
a) Create or develop social security schemes based on the
principle of universal coverage for older people. Where
this is not feasible, other approaches should be tried, such
as payment of benefits in kind, or direct assistance to
families and local co-operative institutions;
b) Ensure that the minimum benefits will be enough to meet
the essential needs of the elderly and guarantee their
independence (p.71).

Ageing in an Indian City / 133

Currently available old age pension schemes for the poor,

which are being implemented by the states, are grossly
inadequate in scale and coverage, and illiberal in their
qualifying criteria. Social assistance for the elderly has
been premised on the assumption that only the destitute
older persons need state support. Thus, old age pension
schemes seem to be aimed at substituting the family rather
than strengthening it by enlarging its capacity to look after
the needs of the elderly members. A major reform of these
schemes should be topmost in the social security agenda.
India need not wait until it becomes affluent to evolve an
effective social security policy. In our context, social
security has to be integrated with anti-poverty
programmes. While anti-poverty strategies seek to reduce
the number of people living in poverty, social security
should be targeted towards the poorest deciles who fail
to be reached either by the growth process or by the antipoverty programmes so as to prevent them from
regressing into destitution. This will necessitate formulation
of measures for a blend of social insurance, social
assistance and social welfare. A national old age pension
scheme through an appropriate legislation is needed
instead of the present non-legislated measures. The social
security programme in India is devoid of respect,
compassion and above all gratitude to the elderly. A large
number of older persons are deprived of basic support
to prevent poverty in old age. Social security should