1.43 CR Elderlly Will Be Forced to Work

By Mahendra Kumar Singh, The Times of India

March 17, 2009

India

At a time when most people their age would be looking forward to leading a relaxed existence with their pension and life-long savings to fall back on, around 1.43 crore senior citizens would be forced to work, mostly as casual laborers, to stay afloat.

According to a Planning Commission report on labor and employment, worst hit would be the elderly in rural areas, with 1.35 crore people forced to work. This will include 30.44 lakh women. 

With youth being the toast of the times and both the government and political parties going all out to woo them, the plight of senior citizens, who number 11 crore, seems to have escaped attention. 

According to one calculation, while 647 out of every 1,000 males above 60 years of age were involved in labor in 2007, the number would increase to 651 in rural areas by 2012. 

Ironically, a vast majority of senior citizens in rural areas will be forced to work, despite the government's much touted flagship schemes focusing on the hinterland. The report projected that elderly who will be forced to work in rural areas will increase from 1.35 crore in 2012 to 1.6 crore in 2017 while those who will work at the age of 60 in urban areas will increase from 7.51 lakh in 2012 to 7.98 lakh in 2017. 

The report also projected that the total labor force above 60 will increase from 1.5 crore in 2012 to 1.7 crore in 2017 (by the end of the 12th five-year plan). 

The report emphasized on increased central funding and state-sponsored old age pension, life cover and health schemes for elderly workers but the projected increase in senior citizen workforce, especially in rural areas, suggest failure of government policy towards the elderly since independence.

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