Generation gap

Stories of grown up children mistreating old parents are, alas, all too familiar. Though as a society we apparently respect our elders, in practice there are enough cases of parents being neglected or even turfed out to fend for themselves.

Now the government has stepped in to look after the interests of parents. In what appears to be a landmark bill, the Lok Sabha passed the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill 2007 this week. Once it becomes law, this bill will aim to protect senior citizens from neglect or maltreatment.

Under this law, senior citizens can approach a tribunal and compel their children to give them a monthly maintenance so that they can lead a normal life. Parents can also take back the property they had willed to their younger relatives, if they are mistreated. The bill thus makes it obligatory for those inheriting the property of their aged relatives, to treat them well.

While the intentions behind these provisions are commendable, it is a matter of debate whether a legal approach to a social issue alone will solve the problem. Given our socio-cultural milieu, how many parents would want to ignore the social implications of taking their own children court? Moreover, it is not as if every child wants to neglect an old parent — often it is impractical and  unaffordable to do so, given the pressures of modern life.

This is where the limitations of a legal approach become evident. Under Article 41 of the Directive Principles of State Policy, the state is required to make effective provisions so that citizens can secure the right to public assistance for those who need them on account of old age. Public assistance here would mean old age pension, old age homes, free or discounted health check-ups, special health insurance schemes and so on.

While the Senior Citizens Bill makes all the right noises about all these provisions, it does not spell out if the State will provide them or indeed how this infrastructure is to be built up. State funding is negligible at this moment for such things and the private sector has still to invest heavily in the area.

India’s population of old persons is expected to grow from 71 million in 2001 to 173 million in 2026 — an increase in their share of the population from 6.9 to 12.4 per cent.

In such a scenario, legal provisions without adequate welfare measures are unlikely to have an impact. Indian legislators can perhaps learn from the Singaporean Maintenance of Parents Act, which is supported by government schemes for healthcare, old age pensions, and so on. Once the facilities are available, well-meaning children will probably take advantage of them and ensure that their aged parents are looked after.