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Legislation on Senior Citizens in Offing
South Asian Media Net
January 27, 2006
The Ministry of Women,
Children and Social Welfare is preparing a draft of the ‘Senior Citizens’
Act’ to ensure social, economic and human rights of the elderly citizens
through a legislation.
“The proposed law will ensure protection and provide shelter to the
economically and socially deprived senior citizens and will also give
them shelter in the old age homes. A code of conduct will also be
drafted under the Act to give guidelines and uniformity to run these
homes, as well as provide financial support to establish and operate old
age homes for those old people who are helpless, not cared and given
service by anyone,” said Shyam Sundar Sharma, spokesperson of MoWCSW.
“Nepal is a signatory to the Madrid International Plan of Action on
Ageing - 2002, and also made commitments in various international
conferences,” said Sharma adding that the Act is being drafted as per
the commitments to the Senior Citizen Policy and Working Policy 2002 and
National Plan of Action on Ageing 2005, which will serve as a mandatory
process to implement the existing policy.
Ganesh Prasad Upadhaya, under-secretary at MoWCSWW, said, “The
legislation is being drafted with a view to making the old age secured
and easy, developing the capacity of the elderly citizens, utilising
their knowledge, skill and experience for nation-building.”
He said that the Act will strengthen district-level coordination
committees that will formulate plans and policies, give directives,
monitor old age homes and old age day care centres in various parts of
the country.
He said the Act will ensure old people’s right to take decision on their
property. The Act will also give concessions in the services to be
provided by the government, exemption will be given in entertainment,
transportation and health sectors.
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Government Announces Policy on Senior Citizens
The Rising Nepal
Nepal
July 22, 2006
His Majesty’s Government
has approved the policy on senior citizens with the objective of tapping
their skills, knowledge and experiences in different areas of nation
building and ensuring their social and economic development so that they
can live a life with full dignity and honour.
According to the Ministry of Women, Children and Social Welfare, the
need of preserving the country’s religions and cultures, promoting
cordiality and goodwill between the new and old generations and turning
the world into a place fit for living for all human beings prompted the
formulation of the policy.
With the restoration of democracy, the national responsibility of
ensuring better life for elderly persons has increased all the more and
it has become indispensable to put into practice our commitment
expressed in various international conventions or seminars.
The present Constitution, too, has given special priority to making
arrangements for education, health and social security for children, the
helpless, women, children, the disabled and the incapacitated.
Elderly persons all over the world account for 6 per cent of the total
population, while Nepal has a little over than 5 per cent of elderly
persons of over 60 years of age. Experts are of the view that it is not
unnatural for the number of elderly persons to increase since the
people’s life expectancy has increased remarkably as compared to
mortality and reproductive rates.
The new government policy provides for educational and entertaining
programmes of the elderly persons and also for their socio-economic
progress. Programmes will be worked out to tap the knowledge and skills
of the elderly persons, laws will be enacted to ensure their social
security, the national pension scheme worked out in order to manage
their basic needs, a social security fund set up and such programmes as
senior citizens allowances and setting up of the home for the aged
managed.
Long-term, short-term and mid-term policies will also be worked out for
the implementation of the main policy.
Efforts will also be made to classify the elderly persons on the basis
of their economic status and physical strength, local bodies will be
required to frame their policies by keeping in mind the helpless and the
neglected sections of society and arrangements will be made requiring
the local bodies to allocate a certain portion of their budgets for the
helpless and the elderly.
Priority will be given to setting up a consultancy center for social
security of the old people, laws will be enacted to see to it that their
property will not be grabbed by others, provisions will be made
requiring sons to allocate a certain portion of the property for
livelihood of their parents and the institutions and NGOs working for
the sake of the old people will be encouraged.
Procedures for providing senior citizens allowances will be further
simplified, priority given to public services, seats reserved for the
elderly persons in means of transport and concessions provided to the
institutions operating homes for the aged.
Under the new policy, the government will recognize the persons above 65
years of age as old citizens by classifying them into three groups on
the basis of their age, economic status, and those who have no economic
base and so have to depend on others.
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