New Delhi: Painting a grim picture of the city's elderly, a study has claimed that 92 per cent of Delhi's youth are indifferent to the rampant verbal and physical abuse being inflicted on the aged and would rather look the other way rather than intervening.
However, the study concluded that at the national level the scenario was comparatively brighter as nearly 60 per cent of the young respondents said they would choose to intervene if they happen to come across such instances.
The report, 'Elder Abuse-The Indian Youth Speaks Out', released by HelpAge India on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, was the outcome of a 10-state-study involving around 200 households, chiefly in the middle and upper-middle income category.
Last year, another report released by the NGO had claimed that nearly half of the country's elderly faced abuse in one form or the other and incidentally 77 per cent of them lived with their families.
Highlighting the urgency of the situation, the study notes that as many as 23 per cent of the respondents felt instances of physical abuse was only next to verbal abuse, that stood at 77 per cent, in the national capital.
"Nationally, 73 per cent of the youth admit that elder abuse exists. 42 per cent feel that it is a problem of all developing societies, including India.
"While 34.7 per cent youth perceive the primary abuser to be the daughter-in-law, 23 per cent perceive it to be the son," the report says.
When it comes to preventive measures, the youth advised the elders to stay socially active and 31.5 per cent stressed on the point of "organised finances".
"86.9 per cent youth advocate living in large joint families as a measure to prevent abuse, in today's social scenario of a rising graph of nuclear families," the study notes.
Apart from the national capital, the cities surveyed by the study include Kolkata, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Kanpur and Madurai.
According to a United Nations observation, the global population of people aged 60 years and older will more than double, from 542 million in 1995 to about 1.2 billion in 2025.
