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TISS on right MARG to highlight issues on senior citizens

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Researching on issues pertaining to senior citizens and using the findings for their benefit may become easier in coming days. The Tata Institute of Social Sciences is in the process collecting various materials from all over the world to provide greater visibility on matters with regard to the elderly.

TISS has launched a documentation cell – Media and Ageing Resource Group (MARG) – to collate national and international publications, books, journals, theses etc. The institution also plans to expand it in the form of a proper set-up on its campus as well as create an online portal.

According to Professor Siva Raju, dean of the School of Developmental Studies, their main aim is to raise awareness. "A great proportion of the elderly in rural as well as urban spaces are not aware of their entitlements, or even how to access services that have been specifically rolled out for them."

The silver lining is that Indian media portrays senior citizens in a more positive light than its western counterpart, said Professor Gangadharan, president of the International Federation of Ageing. "However, there are scores of areas where senior citizens are marginalised. For instance, in Telangana, nearly every day there are reports of senior citizens and widows of deceased government servants are denied pensions."

Work began on MARG after a Media and Ageing Workshop in December 2013 that had academics and media personnel explore senior citizens' portrayal on various media platforms and the need to highlight the problems faced by the community.

On Friday, another Workshop was conducted to mark the progress of MARG. It currently holds a knowledge base of 60 books, 1450 journal articles, 67 documentaries, and 20 newspaper articles pertaining to senior citizens. In order to facilitate access to information, MARG will also be available as an online portal.

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