The senior citizens of the country are mostly neglected. The new single family system and the employment of youngsters away from home have made the senior citizens alone and uncared for in many instances. The worst sufferers are those in the villages and agricultural workers. They have even to work at the age of 70-80s since there is no pension for them except in few states like Kerala. There is no system for their health care. They toil their entire life and end up while toiling and uncared for. The Government is not at all caring for them.
What about he lower middle class, mainly those employed in government as also private establishments. For the government employees, pension is there. But for those who have been recruited after 01-01-2004, whether in state or central government, the pension is not the defined pension as earlier, but is Provident Fund based. The new PFRDA Bill presented in the Parliament against the strong opposition of the entire working class in the country is the road-map to reduce and finish the pension itself. Pension is treated as a waste of money by the present government.
In the case of the middle class again, the major problem is that after their sons/daughters get job, they are mostly separated since the job will be in some other cities or even in other countries. The family connections are broken. The senior citizens in the cities are a big target for the thieves, goondas etc. who can rob them easily of their life’s earnings and if resisting, kill them also. Just go through the dailies of metros like Delhi you can read robbery and murder of senior citizens almost every day, even including retired army officers.
There is no safety to the senior citizens. They are easy targets for all. The government which has to safeguard their health and well being is completely missing in the scene.
Many of the senior ministers in the Central government are senior citizens themselves. They also do not care for other senior citizens, since they may not be facing the difficulties of the ordinary old persons. But the government can not be allowed to go scot-free. A strong movement has to be started in the whole country that the senior citizens are given due considerations and are cared for.