Acknowledgement
I hereby register my thanks to Mr. Nagesh Hegde, my mentor, Indian Institute of Journalism & New Media. Mrs. Donoghu, a senior citizen, Eventide Home Association and also Mr. Briggs superintendent of Eventide Home Association for their guidance.
Special thanks to Dr. Om Prakash, a psychiatrist at NIMHANS for helping me with the inputs required for my Thesis.
I would also like to thank my parents and friends for their love and support without which I would not have been able to complete the project.
Lugubrious old age
Introduction-
“Don’t be too be hard on your old parents, you may find yourself in their place.” wrote the famous English writer Compton Burnett-Dame Ivy.
Old parents have played an important role in the life of the youngsters earlier but the time has changed. Ideally, the children take care of their parents after they grow old but the youngsters go to abroad for their studies or job and finally settle there. In other case they spilt from their parents and lead a necular family because parents seems to be a burden for the young children.
One man in his time plays many roles said ‘William Shakespeare’ in his poem “All the world is a stage”. The first stage is childhood, than comes a boy, in the third stage he becomes an adult and last stage is an old man.
Old age has been referred to as a “second childhood”. Like small children, the aged are always emotionally and psychologically dependent on others.
The traditional Indian value system inculcates respect for elders. Elders are considered an intrinsic part of the family. Children turn to their elders for advice on every aspect of their life. This also results in senior citizens playing an important role in their families and society. In the current scenario, these values are eroding. The breaking up of traditional joint families into nuclear families has resulted not only in the separation of families but also in the severance of family ties. Many senior citizens no longer have the same role in their families as was traditionally played but in the village the joint family system still exist. The elders are valued in the villages.
The old parents are bound to leave their home because they do not get the same respect and affection from their children and grand children and have to spend the rest of their life in an old age home in spite of their relative and children staying in the same city. As the age increases they come across with lot of physical and mental problems and they have to be cared as a child.
Once the parents grow old their expectation from their children increases. Most of the youngsters do not fulfill their parent’s needs. The old parents feel isolated and gradually isolation leads to many psychological problems. The mental problems can also have a serious consequence. They are the leading cause of disability and reduce quality of life.
These days most of the children prefer to live in a necular family. Larger the family, misunderstanding and problem are more. The youth think themselves superior in front of their parents. The parents are also sometimes submissive and listen to what their children say to them, which gradually deals to depression.
The Indian culture is changing and it tends to associate old age with ugliness and youth with beauty but the other cultures tends to admire the characteristics of old age. For example in Japan, silver hair and wrinkles are often admired as signs of wisdom, maturity and long years of service.
There are two types of old age homes in India. One is free type, which cares for the destitute old people who have no one else to care about them and second one is the paid home where care is given properly for the senior citizens and they are worth considering.
What is an old age home?
Old age home is a place, which promises to meet the special needs of the aged parents. Many parents are retired and will not be financially strong. In our modern society even the parents prefer to live in the old age home. According to the ageing parents they consider the old age home as a second home for them. The ageing parents led a new life and create a new bonding with others of their similar age group.
Why is old age home in boom?
Changing value system is forcing the parents to separate from their families. The parents don’t get to spend time with their children and grandchildren as both generations of people have totally different mindsets. Many prefer living in an old age home to avoid loneliness.
Most of the parents want to live in a old age home after they retire. They think it is the only place where they can restart a life without any worries.
The ‘old age home’ are run not only for the deprived and unfortunate ageing parents who are bound to live in the asylum because some of the children live far from their parents and no body else is there to look after them.
What ever may be the reason either generation gap or difference in opinion between the childrens and the parents, but these days youngsters have the prime duty to look after their parents but instead of taking care of their parents they are ignored which force them to leave their house and stay in the old age home.
Past, present & future of old age home
The people who are above the age of sixty are admitted to the old age homes. In India, the populations of old people are more and old age homes are also mushrooming especially in South India. Kerala has the highest number of old age homes and than comes Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
Old age home is a new concept in the modern era and it came to the focus with the changing situation. Before it came into focus when everyone believed in staying with their parents in a joint family. In the past the family member believed that the older people are the important member of the family but the present scenario has been changed. There is a wide generation gap between the ageing parents and the young children. Old values are fast been replaced in today’s society. Families are necular and small. Change in ideology, employment of women and migration have resulted in a crisis of caring their ageing parents. There is less and less people available in the families for providing long-term care. More old age homes and institutions are being established in urban areas.
In the future the old age homes will increase with the increasing number of old people.
Chapterisation
First chapter-
Old age homes are gradually mushrooming in our country, especially in the southern parts. Even the western countries have a fairly well organized network of institutions for the elderly. The growth and development of old age homes in India began as early as 1901, but there still remains adequate.
As per statistics, there are 1081 old age homes in our country today. Out of these, 427 old age homes are charitable ones, while 153 are on a pay and stay basis. A total of 371 old age homes are prevalent in the country to cater to the needs of the sick and 118 homes, meant exclusively for women.
(A study of old age homes in caring for the elderly- project report prepared by N.P. Das and Urvi Shah found from the Internet). Among the 1018 homes for the aged, Bangalore has old age homes that are fairly good, among the ones in South India.
There are some asylums in Bangalore, which not only take care of the ageing parents but also help those who suffer from mental and psychological problems.
A student had been to some of the old age homes in Bangalore city, one of which is at Richmond circle, known as ‘Eventide Home Association.’ Eventide Home Association runs on its own and is not dependent on NGOs. The superintendent of this association Mr. Briggs said the admission procedure is very easy and that they take people who are above the age of sixty and have retired from their jobs. He said that they basically don’t take more people in their association since they have nine senior citizens living in their organization who are content with their stay.
Mrs. Donoghu is one among the senior citizens who stay at Eventide Home Association. She has been living there for past ten years. Mrs. Donoghu says, “I am very happy to lead an independent life in an old age home. I always wanted to live in an old age home when I grew old and wanted an independent life after retirement from my work.” Mrs. Donoghu has come to ‘Eventide Home Association’ since she intends to lead an independent life.
“I have lot of relatives in Bangalore and my son is an army officer here and he comes to meet me very often and I also have a daughter who stays in Delhi. I contact my children regularly and they often come to visit me.” said Mrs. Donoghu.
Apart from Eventide Home Association, there are many other homes for the aged that exist in Bangalore. ‘A friend-in-need’ society, in Shivajinagar, deals with mentally retarded old people.
When the student went to the old age home, the atmosphere was quite different. Her relatives left an old lady, who was mentally disturbed, there. Moreover, her children never came to visit her. The old woman’s condition was very pathetic. The scenario is similar in most of the old age homes in the city. Children, these days, opt to leave their ageing parents in old age homes rather than being a source of support and security to them in their moment of need. The old people who reside in such homes may in some cases, lose their memory and, which could also lead to psychological problems. Most of the senior citizens in the ‘friend-in-need’ society are undergoing a mental trauma. “We have to do their work alone,” said an old lady who stays in the same old age home.
Old age homes have become commercialized and are on the rise now days and moreover, these old age homes do not look after the aged, in a proper manner.
Second Chapter-
NIMHANS (National institute of mental health and Neuroscience) is one of the best mental and neuroscience hospital in Bangalore which gives good treatment to people who are undergoing a psychological trauma.
The thesis is regarding the mental trauma the old parents are undergoing when they are left in a professional run old age homes.
There are lot of old parents who are not willing to go to a old age home and spend their rest of there life’s. As their age are increasing the interest to live with their family members increases but in the modern era this is not happening to work and in such a situation the old parents tend to loss interest in life.
A psychiatrist Dr. Om Prakash who is working in NIMHANS said there are quite a lot number of old parents who come through a psychological problem. In the earlier stage they tend to forget things and it gradually leads to other serious problems.
Depression is a main problem the old parents face and this normally starts after they are 65 years of age said Dr. Seema (name changed) and the depression leads to other psychological problems also.
Adding to this the consulting psychiatrist also said depression originates from anger growing within. Reaction to financial insecurities and fear related to illness and death can also give rise to the condition where the old parents get depressed. The ‘empty nest syndrome’- the feeling that everyone has gone away is also on the rise in the urban India, where grown up children leave the house either after marriage or to purse a career.
Alzheimer’s is a common disease the old people face after they are sixty years of age. Asking Dr Seema weather alzheimer’s can be related to mental stress she said “no because Alzheimer’s is a disease in which the old people loss there memory but it does not have any relation with other psychological and mental problems.”
Third chapter-
Help age India is an organization working for the cause and care of disadvantage, elderly citizen, seeks to improve their quality of life. The motive of the Help age India is to create awareness and understanding of the changing scenario in the society caused by the increasing numbers of the elderly parents said Smita Kalappa working for the Help age India. Mobile Medical Unit programme (MMU) which is the only programme directly implemented by the Help Age India.
Help Age India also provide an opportunity for children to interact with older people. As Indrani Rajadurai, Joint Director of southern region of Help Age India said we started the Children-Grand parents fest with the aim to inculcate in children a respect for elders at home and outside and these kind of fest and programme will strengthen the emotional bonding between the two generation. (Information from the Help Age India website)
It is a fact that isolation leads to depression and depression lead lot of psychological problems. The old age parents are mostly seen isolated and gradually they become depressed and get rid of their life. The Help Age India specially take care of those who are really needy and who are left isolated by their kith and kin in an old age home. They help them to come out of their problem and show them to lead a new life in a new community.
Recent bill introduced for the older persons maintenance, care, and protection.
Everyone has a right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well being of
himself and his family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary
social security and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old-age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond his control. Article 21 of the Constitution of India also echoes the same. It says, 'no person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law'. Further, Article 39 (a) of the Constitution of India says, 'the State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing that the citizen, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood'. Article 41 of the Indian Constitution enjoins upon the state to make effective provisions for public assistance, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement and in other cases of undeserved want. Both the Central and State Governments are empowered under Entry 23 of List III (Concurrent List) to make provisions with regard to social security and social insurance.
A great anxiety in old age relates to financial insecurity. When the issue is seen in the context, one-third of the population (1993-94) is below the poverty line and about one third are above it but belong to the lower income group, the financial situation of two-thirds of the population of people aged sixty and above can be said to be fragile. High costs of bringing up and educating children affects the transfer of a share of income for the elderly. Due to the shortage of space, dwellings in urban area and high rents, people migrating in urban areas prefer to leave their parents in the village. These changes have led to a number of senior citizens being left to live alone, with insufficient resources to meet even their most basic requirements of food, clothing, housing and medical care. Lack of social support, breaking up of the joint family system and changing lifestyles aggravate the health and nutritional problems of the elderly. Thus, there is need for making provisions to ensure that the basic requirements of senior citizens are met and that they can enjoy their right to live with dignity as is envisaged by Article 21.
Across the globe, steps have been taken by various countries such as the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and Germany to provide social security systems for the elderly and other disadvantaged groups. Such systems ensure that senior citizens are not deprived of their most basic needs when they lack the resources to fulfill them. In India, provisions have been made under legislations such as the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 and the Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act, 19 to enable aged parents, with insufficient resources to meet their needs.
Necessity, Needs and Urgency
Over the years it has been noticed that a sense of financial and social insecurity is growing large with the older citizen. The proposed Bill is a welcome step and is a must because of the following reasons: -
Rise in life expectancy
Breaking of joint family system
Rise in cost of living
Blind copying of Western Culture
Lack of education to respect elders and erosion of traditional values
Financial and social insecurity of older persons.
Applicability
The Senior Citizens (Maintenance, Care and Protection) Bill is intended as social welfare legislation to enable senior citizens to obtain maintenance from their children so as to meet their basic requirements and lead a life with dignity. Therefore, the proposed Bill must be made uniformly applicable to all persons irrespective of their caste, creed race, religion or sex. This being social welfare legislation for the benefit of senior citizens of the country to have a wider dimension or horizon.
Object: The object/purpose of the proposed Bill should be
a) To provide an effective mechanism for senior citizens to claim need-based maintenance from their children including foster children, adopted children,
step-children, grandchildren and also from such relatives to whom they have
provided financial support.
b) To make provisions for maintenance to be provided or steps to be taken by
the government for the benefit of such senior citizens, who do not have children, grandchildren or relatives from whom they can claim maintenance.
c) To provide a proper mechanism for protection and care of senior citizens on
the part of the government
Homes for Senior Citizen: The central and state government should be required to set up homes in every district with adequate facilities for men, women and couples. Such homes shall particularly be set up for senior citizens who are lonely and who do not have a home or any adequate shelter. Facilities should be provided to meet their nutritional, medical, recreational and spiritual facilities.
Is it necessary for the parents to live in an Old age home?
The growing number of old age homes is an example of the changing face of our families. Many youngsters are forced to leave the joint families and the elders are loosing a respect and affections from their youngsters. All these affect the older generation. They are deprived of a chance to live in the company of their children and express their joy and anxieties. They become confined to the four walls of a room.
India has a national policy for older person, formulated in 1998, which comprises a number of interventions that could improve a lot of the elderly in our country. According to the policy, that the state should extend support to the elderly in the terms of financials security, health care, shelter, education and welfare to the elderly. It should also provide protection against abuse and exploitation make available opportunities for developing the potential of older persons and also provide services that would lead to an improvement in their quality of their lives.
Earlier, the joint family system sustained the elderly parents emotionally and financially. Today many older men and women choose to live of their own.
One cannot blame the children also for they have their life to live and it would be unrealistic for parents to emotionally blackmail them to come back and live with them. Also in many cases the parents themselves opt to stay away from their children, so finally the parents decide to live in the old age homes because it is found to be more consoling for the senior citizen.
The old age homes is consider to be a new atmosphere for the old parents where they get new friends and start a new life which will finally help them to forget all the hurdles and worries of the past.
Conclusion
One of the most socio-economic problems faced by the elderly people is the breaking up of joint family system. Mostly the old parents in the urban area live alone and there is no one to look after them. The financial constraints and lack of life security adds to their troubles.
Comparing to the earlier days the old age home did not have much of importance but these days its booming up. The modern generation is highly educated but gradually they are changing their behaviour towards their elders. In every house there has been cases of saas-bahu fighting and other misunderstanding due to which the elders loss a peace of mind in their own house. In many houses due to lack of time the servants or maid takes care of the old people instead of their children. The reason behind the increase of old age home is the respect they get there.
A student visited some of the old age home and also talked to the old people in Bangalore. There are some old parents who are willing to live the rest of their life in an old age home. In some of the families the children support their old parents financially but unfortunately they do not get any love and affection. Gradually they lose a mental peace. In such cases the old age is one of the ideal place to stay the rest of their life. Comparing to the past number of oldies have increased. The population of senior citizens, aged sixty and above, in India has increased from 42.5 million in 1981 to 55 million in 1991 and is now placed at 70.6 million in the 2001 census. They comprise about 6.9 per cent of the total population. There is greater life expectancy of citizens at birth and the life expectancy at age sixty are also increasing. With the increase number of old people the old age home is also increasing. Highest proportion of elderly is found in the state of Kerala (8.77%) and lowest in Andaman Nicobar Islands (3.55%).
Based on monthly charges there are four types of old age homes.
Old people without any support – Free
Based on the income of elderly persons,
Charging less than Rs.1000/- per month
Charging more than Rs.1000/-per month and some old age home, which are purely religious.
The old age home organize Radio, TV sets, newspaper, library, indoor games, entertainment programme, meditation hall, religious concerts or satsangs.
After 60 years of age the old people start concentrating more on god and religion. The old people would like leading a devotional and religious life after they cross 60 and most of them prefer stay in an old age home, which is religious.
There are quite a lot number of old age home in Karnataka; one is Satya Sai old age home, which is in White field. This old age home is religious and such a kind of organization helps the old people to forget their worries and problems they had in the past by organizing bajans for the old people. The old people in the religious old age home will be engrossed in their religious world and are fully devoted to god.
Old people are increasing in our society and also old age homes are mushrooming day by day. Living happily in a joint family is vanishing slowly and everyone prefers to live in a small family. The society by large is literate but it has lost their culture and respect for the old people in the family. These days most of the youngsters are not willing to stay with their old parents and decide to leave them in an old age home which gradually affects the psychologically of the old parents.
Comparing to the urban cities where the joint family is breaking but in the village it has not yet expected the trend of living separately leaving their old parents isolated.
As the problems and misunderstanding are increasing, youngsters are going to abroad to pursue a career and finally settle there leaving their old parents alone. Will in such a situation the old age homes increase or there is problem to the solution?
