Our Sept 1991 cover

When we want to impress foreigners about the future of our booming economy, we always emphasise that half of our population is under the age of 24. This is often referred to as the population dividend! However, there is a flip side. With improving healthcare, our average life expectancy has risen from 57 in 1990 to 65 today. In the next two decades, India will also be home to the world’s second-largest population of the elderly. This ‘age wave’ means that the number of senior citizens is expected to touch 198 million in 2030.

India has always been proud, and justifiably so, of its enduring family values. The ideal symbol of these values was the large joint family, with three generations living under one roof. With rapid urbanisation, the Indian joint family got fragmented and nuclear unit became the norm. Even as we accepted this change, we were sure that, no matter what, Indians would always look after their parents. Not any more. With today’s changing lifestyles and growing prosperity, our urban working population must answer the very difficult question: how do you look after those who looked after you?

Increasingly, India’s elderly feel vulnerable, lonely or abandoned. They may have lost a spouse or had children move overseas, or in cases of abuse, been turned out of homes they helped create. The children now find themselves sandwiched between looking after their own family and caring for old parents. Urban professionals may have more money to buy their parents better healthcare. What they are short of is time and attention and the elderly have taken notice.

India’s senior citizens are now speaking out about their concerns, be it physical security or their emotional well-being. They are trying to negotiate independent living in new age old-age homes, planning financial self-sufficiency or being vocal about their rights. Unthinkable a few decades ago, there is a Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2007, which makes neglect of parents above age 60 punishable, waiting to be passed.

Our cover story this week examines the dynamics that are at work inside our very homes. Deputy Editor Damayanti Datta spoke to senior citizens and their successful children caught in this struggle, to scholars and social workers to understand a phenomenon that is as much a part of contemporary India as its multiplexes, malls and software economy. She says, “I was struck by the tremendous anguish of the two generations. Both are trying to look at issues from each others’ perspective and failing.”

The relationship between parents and children is the root of our family ties, which are under strain today. Having happy families is important for the well-being of our country. This is the one price we should not pay for our rush to modernity.

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