Policymaking for Diversity Among the Aged in India

Abstract

Population aging is occurring rapidly in India, and the implications of an aging society are likely to be experienced in an adverse manner unless immediate steps are taken to provide social security for all of India's older population. Current provision by central and state governments is grossly inadequate. This article analyzes the major Indian states across three income groups and describes the differences and inequalities across states and rural/urban areas with regard to income, living arrangements, pension benefits, etc. The efforts by central and state governments to meet the needs of older persons are outlined and critiqued. Suggestions are made for the establishment of more equitable income security, and health and social services schemes.

A Scoping Review of Income Support Programs Offered to Older Adults Living in South Asian Countries between 2000 and 2021

“…As shown in Table 1, most studies were narrative/other types of reviews (n � 60) [14,15,; OECD, n.d. [63][64][65][66][67][68][69][70][71][72][73][74][75][76][77][78][79]; and UNES-CAP, n.d. [80][81][82]; followed by secondary data analysis studies (n � 32) [69, and other primary studies (n � 23) [16,. Studies were mapped according to the study designs.…”

Sustainability of Seniors in Low- and Middle-Income Societies

“…These vast populations are ineligible for social security. It is estimated that nearly 67% of the older population in India could have financial independence if old age pensions were made available to them (Purohit, 2003).…”

Do universal non-contributory old-age pensions make sense for rural areas in low-income countries?

“…The NOAP is of ten de scribed as be ing both poorly administered and insufficient. A lack of coordination between all of the players involved is often a serious problem (Purohit, 2003). It may make sense for coun tries with lim ited ad min is tra tive ca pac ity to start small and then grad u ally ex pand over the years as the re source base im proves and the nec es sary in fra struc ture is put in place.…”

“…P ro jec tions with re spect to fu ture trends in the size of the el der pop u la tion are a ma jor con cern for gov ern ments around the world (Gorman, 2004;Holzmann, Hinz et al, 2005;Jütting, 2000;Purohit, 2003). Most of the fo cus in re cent years has been on the in dus trial coun tries, but the prob lem is not lim ited to these.…”