NITI Aayog released a position paper titled “Senior Care Reforms in India: Reimagining the Senior Care Paradigm” on February 16, 2024.
Releasing the report, NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson, Shri Suman Bery said, “The release of this report is one of the stepping stones toward India’s commitment to achieve the goal of Viksit Bharat @2047. It is important to extensively prioritize the application of technology and Artificial Intelligence for senior care. It is time to start thinking about the special dimensions of senior care in addition to the medical and social dimensions.”.
“This is the time when serious discussions should emerge on making ageing dignity driven, safe, and productive. We need to ensure the social security of the elderly and add more emphasis to wellbeing and care,” mentioned Member (Health) NITI Aayog Dr. Vinod K. Paul in his address.
“Role of family and family values is crucial in developing an ecosystem for healthy ageing. The report has brought forth appropriate policy directives for healthy ageing in India,” stated CEO, NITI Aayog Shri B.V.R. Subrahmanyam.
Secretary DoSJE, Shri Saurabh Garg said, “The report is a call for action on what needs to be done to bring a greater focus on senior care.”. He added that the broad focus of DoSJE is on ageing with dignity, ageing at home, and productive ageing, which will encompass social, economic, and health aspects.”.
As per the position paper, 12.8% of population of India are senior citizens (60+) and it is expected to increase to 19.5% by 2050. The aging population has more females than male with senior sex ratio at 1065. The current dependency ratio of senior citizens is 60%.
In my opinion, the financial independence for elderly has to be looked into more comprehensively as there are skilled people forced out of labour force without much of financial security. Besides reskilling as suggested by position paper, re-employment of the already skilled unemployed senior citizens should be part of elderly and economic policies of the country.
The recommendations in this position paper categorize the specific interventions needed in terms of social, health, economic and digital empowerment with the inclusion as a principle. It strives to push the frontiers of senior care by recognizing the evolving medical and non-medical needs of seniors, thus envisioning a multi-pronged strategy for designing an effective and synergized senior care policy which will keep them safe from financial frauds and other emergencies.
Ms. L. S. Changsan, Additional Secretary &Mission Director, MoHFW, Shri Rajib Sen, Senior Adviser, NITI Aayog, Ms. Monali P. Dhakate, Joint Secretary, DoSJE and Ms. Kavita Garg, Joint Secretary, M/o Ayush, were also present at the launch.
The position paper “Senior Care Reforms in India” may be accessed under the Reports section from: https://niti.gov.in/report-and-publication.
