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Old is gold!

It has been aptly remarked, ‘Those who respect the elderly pave the way for their own greatness’. Respecting them means taking adequate care of their needs. When a man is in the evening of his life, then that is the time to take stock of the life he has lived so far and that is also the time to pursue those hobbies that he could not take up while being lost in the hum drum of his youth and middle age.

Ritam Banati
It has been aptly remarked, ‘Those who respect the elderly pave the way for their own greatness’. Respecting them means taking adequate care of their needs. When a man is in the evening of his life, then that is the time to take stock of the life he has lived so far and that is also the time to pursue those hobbies that he could not take up while being lost in the hum drum of his youth and middle age. Therefore creating a conducive environment for them to help them live with dignity would also entail respecting them. October 01 is International Day for Elders. As a mark of respect to the elderly citizens of the world, let us delve on the problems they face so that corrective measures can be taken to solve them. On December 14 1990, the United Nations General Assembly had designated October 1 as the International Day of Older Persons, by following up on initiatives such as the Vienna International Plan of Action on Ageing, adopted by the 1982 World Assembly on Ageing and endorsed later that year by the UNGA. This year`s theme revolves around the challenges and opportunities of ageing. Various international organisations have been established to take care of the people who are in the prime of their lives. Help the Aged is one such foundation. The work of this center revolves around helping the elderly counter poverty, isolation and neglect in the countries of Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia. Even a developed country like the United States of America is not devoid of the social and health-related issues affecting its elderly. To quote figures, in Latin America alone more than 50% old people live in poverty while a large percentage has no steady supply of income. In Bolivia, 59% of older people live on less than a dollar a day. In Peru, 63% of older people are steeped in poverty. In Colombia, several poor old people are living on the streets as government-run centers fall drastically short of the number of such deprived lot. In the American society where the thrust is more on individualism and less on family, many old people are often led to fend for themselves. Though the system of social security is often enough to take care of their finances, yet the fact that at that age when one of the spouses passes away the other partner is left alone to cope up with health problems and loneliness further aggravates their troubles and pushes them into a depression. Research found that at least 5 million of the 31 million Americans over 65 were clinically depressed, while a million had major depression. Britain is not far behind. Elder abuse here has now reached alarming proportions. Over 300,000 old people have gone through abuse in the last year. A report has disclosed that the elderly people in England are mistreated by the country’s health system which many times ignores their plight. An NHS (National Health Service) report this year found that old people were not treated with dignity in the sense that their minimum income needs were almost 50% more than the UK state pension. One can well imagine the situation in the third world countries after getting apprised of the same in the developed western society. In Pakistan where there are no clear records on the number of the homeless old people, an assessment has established that nearly 70 per cent elders in the country were unhealthy while close to 60 per cent had multiple medical problems. In an age of weak family ties, old people bear a major brunt of it by suffering economically, socially, and psychologically. Recently a newspaper report stated that an old couple in India was thrown out of their home by their son even though the house was legally in the old father’s name. This led to the couple seeking legal help for the restoration of their dignity- unheard of in a country like India where parents often do not resort to legal measures against their own children. Also in India there are rampant cases of the elderly staying alone in their homes being robbed and at times even getting murdered in the process. Security for the old people, who are living alone in countries such as India, Pakistan, etc is a major concern. In a fast-developing Asian state like China, things are not bright either. 11% of the Chinese populace is above 60. Out of this, 9 out of 10 worry about monetary needs at the time of retirement. Their dissatisfaction with the government is imminent in the survey that concluded that a mere 20% opined that it was okay to rely partially on the government pension scheme while 50% stated that they planned to be self-dependent. China has entered an aging society as 11% of its population is currently aged 60 or above. The callousness of the Chinese government is evident from the recently uttered words of its ex-Vice Minister for Foreign Trade Long Yongtu, that elderly people mustn’t rely on government to fund their retirement. The senior citizens of the globe must not feel alienated in a society that they too developed. The thrust here should be on treating them on an equal footing and not making them feel an isolated lot. Also laws should be made more stringent and the legal system must formulate a mechanism to be elderly-friendly to ensure their safety and security needs. With due respect to celebrated novelist, Mark Twain, let us not quote him out of context here and kill the belief as far as the worries of yesterday’s generation are concerned that: Age is an issue of mind over matter. If you don`t mind, it doesn`t matter. It definitely should and it most certainly does matter.