India's Elderly Face Growing Neglect

India's Elderly Face Growing Neglect
By Tinku Ray, BBC News, Delhi
India
June 21, 2008
There are more than 70 million pensioners in India
In India's financial capital, Mumbai (Bombay), Laxmibai Laxmidas Paleja lies on a low cot with a thin sheet over her.
She's 92 and very frail and there are obvious bruises on her face. She also has swelling around her eyes, nose and mouth.
"My grandson and my daughter-in-law started abusing me. And they said, 'I'll kill you, I'll kill you'," she says.

"I'm old. I couldn't defend myself. I was bleeding all over. I've got bruises all over my body. Then they just bundled me in a car and dumped me here at my daughter's house."
Grandson Vinay Paleja denies the accusation.

"No, I never touched my grandmother. She hurt herself and I don't know why she's making these accusations against us."

While recovering at her daughter's house, Laxmibai Paleja says she now has nothing.
She agreed to sell her land and gold to pay for medical treatment for herself and her son. But none of the money was used for the purpose, she says.

The case will probably go to court, but getting to this stage takes a long time in India. Laxmibai Paleja may not even be alive by the time it is resolved.

Rising abuse
There has been a steady rise recently in reports of cases of elderly being abused, harassed and abandoned in India. Traditionally older people has been revered in India, signified by the touching of their feet by the younger generation.
Joint family systems - where three or more generations lived under one roof - were a strong support network for the elderly.
But more children are now leaving their parental homes to set up their own.
Sociologists say the pressures of modern life and the more individualistic aspirations of the young are among reasons why the elderly are being abandoned or, in some cases, abused.
Alarmed by what's happening to some of the elderly, the Indian government recently introduced a new law.

The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill provides for up to three months' imprisonment for those who do not take care of their parents.
Court orders will also be used to force children to pay maintenance for their elderly parents.

Left to die
The problem is not confined to India's cities.
I travelled to the southern state of Tamil Nadu, to a town called Erode. Last year a 75-year-old grandmother, Chinnamal Palaniappan, was found on a rubbish dump just outside the town.

The government also hopes the new law will act as a deterrent.

But Matthew Cherian, chief executive of HelpAge India, says it is not going to prevent families from breaking up.
"You're not going to get back to the joint family system. We have to get into more and more old age homes.
"At HelpAge India, 30 years ago when we started supporting old age homes, everybody said this was a Western concept. Today everybody accepts this is not a Western concept, this is the reality."

Abridged
SOURCE: BBC/South Asia
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