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PROBLEMS OF THE AGED

Himansu Charan Sadangi

Associate Prof. in Sociology

Who are Aged-There is no universal definition for aged. So, any definition is arbitrary in nature.
Generally speaking, people who have crossed a given span of life are called aged.
The span of life for the consideration of being aged varies from country to country.
Developed countries have long life expectancy and in these countries people above the age of 65yr.
are considered as aged. The Developing and under developed countries have short life expectancy
and people above the age of 60yr. are considered as aged.

The issue – The life expectancy is growing, which is a positive development. But along with this
the proportion of aged in the population is also increasing. This is altering the existing social
equations. The aged are finding it more and more difficult to adapt to the changing situation. The
earlier institutional networks that provided support to the aged are becoming less and less effective.
This situation is giving rise to the problems for the aged.

Dimension of the problem – Growing old is a complex and gradual process having Biological,
Psychological and Social dimensions. The pace of biological, psychological and social development
is not uniform in all the individual. Hence aged of any given age group do not constitute a
homogenous category.
The aged in a given society have to adjust to two distinct events.

I Events related to the development of the older individuals.

II Events related to the historical time when the individual is growing up.

I . Events related to the development of the older individuals.

In the process of getting aged an individual faces problems in various spheres.
i. Bio-physiological Sphere – In this sphere the problems includes loss of
reproductive capacity, decline of physical vigor, growing susceptibility to diseases
etc.
ii. Psychological Sphere - In this sphere the problems includes contraction of life
goals, self image tend to be negative etc.
iii. Sociological Sphere - This includes loss of roles, decline of
responsibilities and power etc.
Up to the middle age a person experiences the increase in all the above factors. As he tends
to become old, he gradually starts loosing in all these aspects. This calls for adjustment and re-
adjustment. This is the main problem faced by the older people. The historical time in which a
person is getting old play a very important role in the process of this adjustment.

II . Events of the historical time when the individual is growing up.

There occurs sometimes marked change in the historical situation that give rise to radical
changes in the adjustment of individual including the aged in their society. One such landmark
event is the transformation of the society from pre-industrial to the industrial stage resulting in the
process of modernization.
Industrialization, Modernization and the aged -
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(a)Demographic Transition

Industrialization Results in
&
Modernization
(b) Radical change in the
institutional structure of the society

All these affect the mode of adjustment of the aged in the society

(a) Demographic Transition and the Aged – Demographic transition refer to the process
whereby a society moves from a condition of High Fertility and High Mortality to one of
Low Fertility and Low Mortality.
During this transition period, decline in fertility and increase in longitivity results in
increased proportion of aged in the population. Consequently we find high proportion of aged in
developed countries. The proportion of aged is increasing in developing societies like India. The
smaller the size and proportion of the aged in the society, the better are the chances of their
satisfactory adjustment in society.
(b) Change in Institutional structure –In the pre-industrial societies, family used to be the
major institutional factor facilitating the adjustment of the aged in the society.

Pre-industrial society –
1. Family was the unit of production. The elders control all the production asserts. This
ensured their influence and status despite being old.
2. In the family enterprise the aged can work on tasks consistent with their diminishing
capacity (such as supervisory etc.).
3. Their knowledge never became absolute; rather, their experience was regarded as
invaluable.
All these ensure gradualness in their aging process. Adjustment becomes easy in such
situation.

Modern Industrial society –

1. Family tends to loose its production function. In this society the youngster soon became
economically independent of their elders. This resulted in a change in the family
structure where the importance and the consequent status of older declined.
2. In Industrial economy, on the ground of economic rationality, the aged are involuntarily
retired from gainful employment (even if their productive capacity still remain intact).
This lead to economic insecurity for the aged, which accelerate their aging process.

CONDITION OF AGED IN INDIA

People above the age of 60 yr are considered as aged in India. They are now termed as
Senior Citizen. Retiring age in India for the govt. servant is 58 year to 60 year.
 Size –From 1901 to 2001 the percentage of aged in Indian population is gradually
increasing from 5.05% to 6.78%. There are about 75million-aged people in India and their
number is likely to increase in a faster rate in
future. So much effort and resources will be needed in their adjustment process.
 Dependency Ratio – This is the ratio of the %of population below 14yr and above 60yr to
the %of population between 15to 59 year (i.e. the working population). Like wise we can
also calculate the Old Dependency Ratio and the Young Dependency Ratio. Since 1951
the ODR is steadily increasing and in the year 2001 the ODR was14.2.
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The YDR and ODR make a qualitative difference for the type of services to be provided by
the society
More YDR => Provision for health care, school education etc (this can be treated as
investment for the future)
More ODR => Provision for geriatric health care and housing etc.(these are not investment)
 Old –Sex Ratio – (The number of female per 1000 population). The % of aged among the
female is higher than that of male. As people grow old they begin to lose their marriage
partner at a rapid rate. Among the aged the widowed status for female is 3 to 4 times higher
than that of male. This is quite disturbing because women depend heavily on men for
economic support and their husbands are their legal support also.
 Educational status – About 65% male and 92% female among the aged are illiterate. This
low educational background of the aged put them in a very vulnerable situation when they
are required to assume new roles and that too in a fast changing society.
 Economic status –Economy is a major factor in social adjustment. The older are generally
out of employment and consequently there is reduced income. This has damaging
consequences for the aged. Occupation not only provide income, it also provides self-
identity and status to an individual. A pre-industrial economy gives scope of longer
association of the aged with work. The % of aged in the workforce in India is quite high.
But with the modernization of Indian economy this proportion will fall drastically leading to
alarming situation in future. This will make the old more dependants thereby making their
adjustment process more difficult.
 Health Status – The older people generally suffer from the chronic ailments like problems
of joint, respiratory, blood pressure, diabetics etc. Most of the aged also become physically
handicapped. In developed countries more attention is paid to health problems of the aged.
A special branch of medicine called Geriatrics has been developed to deal with the old age
diseases. But health of the aged is one of the most neglected area in India.
Social adjustment of the aged – The social adjustment of the aged need special attention
because of the following facts.
 The proportion of aged in the population is steadily increasing.
 Aged are being expelled from the modern economy at an increasing rate.
 Aged are becoming more and more economically unsecured.
 The dependency of the aged (physical, economic, social and moral) is gradually
increasing.
The problems of the aged are inherent in the fact of their biological, psychological and
social aging as well as in the far-reaching historical change in the society (in the form of
urbanization, industrialization and globalization).
The problems for the aged women aged is more acute because of their dependency status
which make them more unsecured economically, socially and psychologically.
Aged in the Past- Aged in the past faced less problems because-
1. Smaller proportion of aged in the population.
2. They were well supported by the traditional social institutions such as family and kin-
groups.
3. The aged enjoyed a privileged position because –
a) The Structure and norms of the joint family, which gave them high status.
b) Family was the unit of production and the aged were in charge of the family
assets. This gave them economic security.
c) The knowledge base was traditional which ensured the subordination of the
younger to the alders.
Changing situation- The forces of economic development and modernization
 Deprived the family of its production function.
 Diminished the capacity of the family to take care of the aged.
 Employment went out side the family.
 Forced involuntary retirement upon the aged.
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 Made the younger free from the authority of the aged.

 Changed the joint family to nuclear family with husband, wife and
children as the unit. The aged have to live with them that increased
their dependency.
 Forced more and more aged to live alone in helpless condition.

Because of all these factors the aged are loosing self-respect, as they are economically
dependent on their children. The number of caregiver in the family is also decreasing which is
making their condition miserable.

Policies and Programs for the Aged

The percentage of aged in the population is steadily increasing. The ability of the family and
other traditional social institutions to support and take care of the aged is diminishing. Hence, the
society should take up this role to help the social adjustment of the aged.
The developed societies have already faced this problem and they have developed
alternative arrangements in the form of Old Age Home, Day Care Center etc.to look after the aged.
The special needs of the aged are specifically recognized in every aspect of social activities (e.g.
escalators to facilitate their movement). There are well-developed supportive systems for the aged
by the public institutions.
India is experiencing this problem very recently. The problem is yet to take acute dimension
in India. But in near future it will become very severe. In India there is recognition of the problem
and the responsibility of the larger society to look after the aged.
Four main steps Govt. has taken

1. Govt. has enacted legislation to affirm the duty of people having sufficient means to
maintain and look after his aged or infirm parents who are unable to maintain themselves.
But the problem here is no parents is willing to go to a court of law to extract support from
an unwilling child.
2. Article 41 of the constitution direct the state to make effective provisions of public
assistance for the benefit of the disadvantaged and weaker section including the aged’.
3. Govt. has assumed partial responsibility for supporting destitute aged who do not have any
earning member to support them. There is provision of Old Age Pension and the Govt. also
give grant-in –aid to institutions which take care of such persons. There are also fringe
benefits such as reduced rate of income tax and concession for travel for the aged (senior
citizens).
4. Govt. has passed legislation to ensure retirement benefit like gratuity, pension and provident
fund to be paid by the employers to the aged who are compulsorily retired.

Voluntary Agencies- Various NGOs are working for the aged. They provide services such as
 Institutional services in the form of old-age home.
 Vocational services and occupational therapy.
 Anon-institutional support system including Medical, Psychiatric and Rehabilitation
services, nutritional care, recreation, counseling etc.
 Provision of Day Care Centre.
But all these services do not cover sufficient population. The voluntary agencies have to
play a larger and more responsible role in future for the betterment of the aged.