SSome years ago, a beautiful television clip on elderly citizens showed a series of visuals of elderly people without dialogue or commentary. In the end, there was just a single line that appeared in the frame. It said, “It is not Death they are afraid of, it is Life.” A telling comment on the insecurity old age brings along with it, when the state, society and family brush off their responsibilities towards people who need to be taken care of, never mind whether they are healthy, or in need of medical care or not.
Tragic case studies
On February 18, Durgaprasad Chatterjee, a terminally ill septuagenarian jumped to his death from the 7th floor of a private hospital. He knew he was dying of cancer. He was depressed, he felt alone, and felt his treatment would be a heavy burden on his family. He took what he thought was the easy way out. Just a day before, Kalpana Bardhan, 72, quietly stepped out of her home in the early hours of the morning with a can of kerosene. She walked up to the park in the neighbourhood, emptied the kerosene can on herself and then lit herself up. Morning walkers watched the macabre incident unfold in front of their eyes, but did nothing to save her. She lived with her children, but the neighbours did not report any conflict or cruelty.
Among the elderly willing to share their stories with the rapporteurs on the ‘Elder Abuse in India (2013) Report’ was J.S. Bhatia, then 80. He had always looked forward to a happy and content retired life with his children. Reality painted a grim picture because he soon found that he was subjected to abuse, refused food, and finally abandoned by his son and daughter-in-law. Bhatia, then 81, shifted to an old age home. Bhatia is no exception, but is an example of the rule of elderly being not only neglected by children and family members, but also physically abused. According to statistics, around 20% elders from Delhi, and 23% across India have claimed to have had personal experiences of being abused.
A recent Calcutta High Court ruling may bring a smile to thousands of ousted parents. In a relief to thousands of elderly parents pushed out of their own homes to old age homes by their sons, the Calcutta High Court ruled that children living in their parents’ house have to listen to them and respect them, or else find their own separate accommodation. The ruling by Judge Jaymalya Bachi came while hearing the case of prolonged mental and physical torture of Subhaschandra and Birati Haldar of West Bengal, at the hands of their son Subhendu and daughter-in-law Ria. The couple had approached the High Court first in 2014, alleging police inaction against their son and daughter-in-law, despite reports of torture. A High Court ruling on April 17, 2015, by Justice Indraprasanna Mukhopadhyay, ordered the police to warn the son and daughter-in-law. However, when summoned, the young couple brought along their son, begged for mercy and made the old couple emotional by using their grandson.
The matter seemed settled until the torture recommenced. Unable to bear it anymore, the old couple again approached the police on December 6, 2016, and an FIR (First Information Report) was filed. The son and daughter-in-law were arrested, but later released on bail, sources revealed. The landmark judgment has brought a ray of sunshine hope not only to the old couple, but to thousands of ousted parents languishing in old age homes in the state. Many of them plan to reclaim their properties, ousting their sons and their families.
The grim statistics
According to the 2011 Census report, the percentage of people above 60 years of age is 8.6% of the population. In 2009, the percentage of old people in the country was 7% and by 2050, it would increase up to 20% of the total population. Although the life span of an Indian at birth is 63 years, at 60, it becomes 78 years. That is, a person who lives up to 60 years has a chance of living 18 years more.
Facts reveal everyday that senior citizens are not given proper respect, care, affection, security and health related facilities, factors elderly people require much more than adult citizens who are not senior yet, do. According to a news report by Vaibhav Ganjapure (Times of India, January 8, 2017), crimes against senior citizens are increasing at a rapid pace. He reports that around 1000 incidents of elderly abuse were recorded over the last five years in Nagpur alone.
The Report Elder Abuse in India (2013) released by NGO Help Age India revealed that as many as 70% of the respondents said they were abused, but did not report the matter. “Maintaining confidentiality of the family matter” was the major reason behind not reporting abuse (for 33%), followed by “fear of retaliation” (for 39%). Many did not report abuse, as they “did not know how to deal with the problem.” The most common forms of abuse experienced by the elderly were disrespect (41%), verbal abuse (32%), with a shocking 27% also facing physical abuse, including beating/slapping. The study was carried out in nine cities viz., Delhi NCR, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Bhopal, Chennai, Patna, Hyderabad and Bangalore.
The report goes on to add that with more old people living longer, the households are getting smaller and congested, causing stress in joint and extended families. Even where they are co-residing, marginalisation, isolation and insecurity are felt among the older persons due to the generation gap and change in lifestyles. Increase in lifespan also results in chronic functional disabilities, leading to a need for assistance by the older person, to manage even the simple chores of daily living.
Why should 60 be the retirement age?
Government service and its allied organisations are fixing the cut-off date of retirement from active service at 60. Why, when health care and a healthy lifestyle have extended the life-span of the elderly? Why be forcefully laid off much before they feel that they cannot pull along with active work any more? Why turn them into dependent citizens when they are capable of sustaining their independence? A considerable percentage of adult children of elderly citizens are settled away from their roots in India and beyond. Their responsibility towards their elderly parents is mostly confined to sending money and gifts and perhaps making annual visits for short stays. Is this enough for the safety and security of elderly people?
“Able and willing children who are financially affluent are not cruel towards their parents, but cannot look after them because the parents are unwilling to leave their roots to settle down with their children in a different place. The other reason is that they do not wish to bring their parents to live with them, because they are scared of value and lifestyle differences stemming from generation gap,” says Sudeshna Roy who has made a lovely film on a Bengali Old Age Home for the affluent elderly.
In their paper Risk factors for suicide in elderly in comparison to younger age groups (Indian Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 57, Issue 3), P.N. Suresh Kumar, P.K. Anish and Biju George inform us that the elderly population has a significant risk of suicide when compared to any other age group. Despite this, suicide among the aged receives scant attention. Hence, identification of suicide risk factors specific to this population, they feel, will help in the development of suitable prevention strategies for this group. A significant number in the elderly group had attempted suicide more than a week after a stress-related incident.
Ageing well
There are positive ways of combating the social and psychological impact of ageing. The minute one begins to get alarmed about approaching 60, the age that marks the clock beginning to tick the other way, a minute spent recalling a few familiar faces popping up in the Indian media – electronic or print – will do away with the alarm bell. The late M.F. Hussain sold a 100 paintings at a first-time-ever price of Rs.100 crores – 75 of these paintings existed only in his creative mind. Khushwant Singh, till he reached 90, was sitting cosy inside his bulb and writing raunchy books and columns. Zohra Sehgal at 90 wrote her memoirs and continued to make her presence strongly felt on the big and small screens, till a few months before she passed away. Filmmaker Aparna Sen at 70-plus continues to direct films. Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen continues to jet across the world with his theories on poverty and education. The most classic example is the white-bearded Amitabh Bachchan, who pops up in every other ad and appears in umpteen films, who illustrates with his life and lifestyle, his positive approach to ageing.
Dr. Rupa Talukdar in her paper, Senior Citizens, a Brief Statement on them and How is their Present Status states that “It has been proved after experiments among the old, aged volunteers, that with old age, general knowledge increases, logical reasoning and spatial insight remain almost unaffected, and emotional stability expands, because elderly use the frontal part of the brain which controls emotions, more than the young. The ability to read fiction does not deteriorate significantly and vocabulary peaks at the age of 85. If older people get something wrong, they are likely to perform the task because they are more focused on the rewards/happiness that comes from good solutions.
Ageing is looked at as a traumatic period of life. But with time, we have realised that ageing is no trauma. It is in fact, a healthy transformation of roles from that of a son to father and on to that of grandfather. The trauma ‘aspect’ comes from the Western concept of death as finality. Oriental philosophy however, looks at death as an end of one chapter and not as the end of the book. Clocks keep ticking away, so one must do what one can to stay active in the autumn of one’s life. As there is no cure for old age, early prevention of degenerative changes holds the key to sustained physical, mental and social well-being in later life.
Finally, safety, preventive, corrective or curative or all three, for the elderly, lies in their own hands, and the police, the state and the legal machinery along with the immediate family, can only offer a support system.
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Shoma A. Chatterji
Shoma A. Chatterji is a freelance journalist, film scholar and author. She has authored 17 published titles and won the National Award for Best Writing on Cinema, twice. She won the UNFPA-Laadli Media Award, 2010 for ‘commitment to addressing and analysing gender issues’ among many awards. She is currently Senior Research Fellow, ICSSR, Delhi, researching the politics of presentation of working women in post-colonial Bengali cinema 1950 to 2003. [/column]