CB Bureau‘About 66 per cent of the senior citizens in the country cannot
afford to eat two square meals a day and 90 per cent of them have no social
or health security,’ said NGO HelpAge International while observing August 16 as Senior Citizens National Protest Day.
Along with HelpAge International, more than 25 national and state
organizations and gerontologists, as well as social activists working for senior citizens came
together to set up a united front to raise their voice in favour of basic rights for the elderly.
HelpAge further claimed that 73 per cent of old people are
illiterate and can only survive by doing physical labour, and that 37 per cent of them are
lonely. ‘India signed the Madrid International Plan of Action on
Ageing in 2002 when it committed to halve the old-age poverty by 2015, but the
reverse is happening in our country,’ said P Vyasamoorthy, joint coordinator for
the protest day.
‘According to an estimate, while the population of below
poverty line (BPL) category has gone down below 22 per cent, that in case of
the older persons has exceeded 66 per cent. This segment thus is becoming
larger, and at the same time getting poorer. The poorest among the poor are
senior citizens,’ said Vyasamoorthy.
‘Central and state governments have been consistently
ignoring and neglecting the welfare of senior citizens,’ he added.