- Updated: Aug 31, 2016 09:57 IST
- The government on Wednesday will examine the possibility of allowing lawyers to appear before a tribunal, constituted under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (MWPSC) Act, 2007, on behalf of senior citizens who are not provided maintenance or abandoned by their children.Under the existing provisions of the Act, senior citizens who are not being maintained by children, neglected or abandoned can directly approach the tribunal.“Under the Act participation of an advocate in the proceeding either for the applicant or respondent is barred. If the applicant is incapable of making an application, an NGO can make an application on his or her behalf,” said an official from the ministry of social justice and empowerment.The need for reviewing the legislation has arisen after the Punjab and Haryana and Madras high courts have, in different orders, said that the Centre reconsider some provisions of the Act,“The courts felt that Section 16 of the Act needs to be amended to allow children or relatives of the elderly people to also file appeals before the Appellate Tribunals.“Under the current Act, the right to appeal has been given only to the applicant (parent or senior citizen) and the same is not available to the respondent (son, daughter or relative etc).“The courts especially cited that Section 17 of the Act which prohibits representation by legal practitioners by any party before the tribunal or appellate tribunal, needs a re-look,” the official said.The courts also asked the ministry about dispensing with the current system of SDMs acting as tribunals and DMs acting as appellate tribunals under the Act, as the tribunals may involve mixed questions of fact and law to be decided. The courts observed that this can be discharged by a legally trained person.According to sources, the ministry had constituted a committee to review the Act in January which differed on all these points.“The objective behind framing the rules of the Act was to provide inexpensive and speedy justice to the senior citizens of the country. But allowing lawyers would mean it may take years or prolong a case. Engaging lawyers would also involve expenses. If lawyers are allowed, the entire spirit behind the legislation will be lost,” the official said.The social justice ministry’s national consultation on Wednesday involves stakeholders such as senior citizens’ associations, state governments and central ministries, bar council of India, national law commission of India. The ministry will seek suggestions of stakeholders on whether the Act should be reviewed.The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 makes it a legal obligation for children and heirs to provide maintenance to senior citizens and parents, by monthly allowance.
Wednesday, 19 October 2016
Govt to hold talks on reviewing law for maintenance of parents
Sunday, 25 September 2016
Mind Mantra: Elder Men and Sexually Inappropriate Behavior
Mind Mantra: Elder Men and Sexually Inappropriate Behavior: Over the last few years the society has become aware of high number of inappropriate sexual behaviors present in the Elderly. While earl...
Friday, 16 September 2016
Never too late to live in
| The Telegraph, Ananya Sengupta |
New Delhi, Sept. 10: Single men above 50 years want to marry. Single women above 50, if ready to seek a partner at all, prefer live-in relationships.
This is one reason matchmakers like Natubhai Patel are struggling to find wives for their 50-plus male clients - bachelors, divorcees or widowers.
"Single women above 50 don't want to wash clothes or clean houses - most of them are widows and don't want to get trapped in household chores again," Patel, the president of the Ahmedabad-based Anubandh Foundation, one of the country's handful of senior citizen marriage bureaus run by NGOs, said.
"The 50-plus women are looking for retired government employees who have pension and a house - they are only seeking financial security and companionship in their old age," Patel added, speaking ahead of a matchmaking event in Delhi this month.
In an inversion of the received wisdom about gender roles, many of Patel's male clients balk at live-in relationships, preferring the emotional security of marriage.
N.M. Rajeshwari, the president of Thodu Needa, a Hyderabad-based NGO that tries to unite single elderly people, echoed Patel.
"Many women who get in touch with us don't want to get married because they don't want any legal entanglements," she said.
"They are happy in live-in relationships as they can maintain their independence and also balance the needs of their existing families, consisting of grown-up children and their spouses."
One other reason that elderly males struggle to find wives is that far fewer single elderly women are looking for partners at all.
Anubandh, for instance, which has held 41 matchmaking sessions across states in its 15-year existence, has 8,802 men on its register but only 982 women.
"Of the women, 70 per cent want a live-in relationship to avoid the hassles of marriage," Patel said.
Of the 600 over-50 clients registered with Rajeshwari's five-year-old organisation, only about 200 are women. Most of her 150 clients who are seeking a live-in partner are women, Rajeshwari said.
It's a trend that prompted Anubandh to start facilitating live-in relationships since 2011, after exclusively promoting marriages in its first 10 years.
"We realise that some of the participants may choose to live in for a few years before taking the next step," Patel said.
The agencies promoting elderly marriages offer their services free and take care to ensure that the women are not exploited, Patel said. All participants must register by producing valid identity proof and a copy of their divorce papers or the death certificate of their spouse.
Patel, a former central government employee, seeks CVs and then organises group meetings. The matches are made through a process similar to speed-dating and personal interactions.
Both Patel and Rajeshwari said they wanted more 50-plus women to come forward to seek a partner - whether a husband or a live-in boyfriend.
"I think it's society that holds them back. I want to tell single women to seek a companion who will be their friend for life, even if they don't want to marry," Patel said.
He listed companionship and sex as the primary reasons the elderly marry, citing how his organisation helped an 83-year-old former professor, who has 15 grandchildren, acquire a 61-year-old bride last year.
It has been a tough journey: over 15 years, Patel has aided 95 marriages and 23 live-in relationships.
"I want to tell single women that marrying or living in at an older age is not a stigma," Rajeshwari said. "Staying alone can be extremely lonely."
V.B. Sharan, 69, a former CRPF commandant who had married at 62 after his first wife's death, offered his own experience as example.
"I married because I needed a companion. Today, I have six children, three from each of our previous marriages. I took care of my (current) wife's three children, who were still studying, after we married. Now, we are a happy family."
Sharan runs the Senior Citizen Forum, which is helping Patel organise his matchmaking session in Delhi.
Patel, however, has a word of caution for the over-50 men seeking matrimony: three such marriages he has organised have ended in divorce. He now counsels the couples in the dos and don'ts.
"One of the marriages broke up because of this and I had to speak to the man. Companionship should be the goal," he said.
The other two broke up because of property issues and family problems, Patel said.
"So, the bottom line is that the elderly too get into similar problems in marriage as the young," he laughed.
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Thursday, 15 September 2016
Raghuram Rajan's IIT prof quit job to work for downtrodden tribals
Alok Sagar, social activist and former IIT professor.
- Shruti Tomar, Hindustan Times, Bhopal |
- Updated: May 11, 2016 15:37 IST
- At a time when media is inundated with mudslinging over the qualification of leaders, the story of a former IIT Delhi professor who has spent the last 32 years in service of the downtrodden in Madhya Pradesh is a breath of fresh air.Alok Sagar, a resident of New Delhi, did his bachelor in electrical engineering from the prestigious IIT Delhi and got his masters degree from the institute in 1973. He went on to complete his PhD at Houston University in Texas, US, before returning to India to become a professor at his alma mater.However, it later dawned on him that he would be able to better contribute to the growth of the country and its people by working on the ground. So, in 1982, Sagar resigned as professor and began working with the tribals in Betul and Hoshangabad districts, helping save the environment — one tree at a time.He has planted more than 50,000 trees in Betul district. And in association with the Shramik Adiwasi Sangathan, Sagar works for the welfare of tribals. Today, he can be seen riding bicycle, in line with his green endeavour, collecting and distributing seeds among tribals at a reasonable rate.Over the more than three decades, the memory of his degrees faded, and no one would have ever known of the great mind in their midst had it not been for the election in the district’s Ghoradongari assembly constituency.Unable to trace his background, the Betul district administration grew suspicious of Sagar and ordered him to leave, citing security reasons. It was only then that the former professor revealed his enviable qualifications.“Unlike the baseless fight over degrees of politicians, Sagar has set an example of being a true social worker,” said Anurag Modi, an activist who works with Sagar.During his time as a professor in the 1980s at IIT Delhi, he taught Raghuram Rajan, the present governor of the Reserve Bank of India, but Sagar says he doesn’t need a degree to serve people, only will power. “In India, people are facing so many problems, but people are busy proving their intelligence by showing their degrees than serving people,” he said.
Tuesday, 13 September 2016
Soon, Aadhaar must to avail rail concession
THE HINDU, NEW Delhi, September 12, 2016
The Indian Railways may soon make it mandatory for senior citizen passengers to provide their Aadhaar numbers to avail concessions on rail tickets.
To begin with, senior citizens will be able to get ticket concessions only through Aadhaar from December this year, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) Chairman and Managing Director A.K. Manocha told The Hindu.
At present, male senior citizens can avail 40 per cent discount on ticket fares and female passengers 50 per cent reduction on ticket fares on all trains including Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Duronto. Railways provides 53 such concessions, including those for the differently-abled and patients, incurring a loss of Rs.1,500 crore every year.
“The Railway Board has taken a decision to give discount on fares to senior citizens only on the basis of Aadhaar numbers from December,” Mr. Manocha said.
He further said that IRCTC was likely to incentivise all passengers to book rail tickets through Aadhaar by offering them several sops.
“For instance, an IRCTC user can only book six tickets in a month, as per the present rules. However, we may do away with this norm as we will get to know if you are misusing the tickets or not through the Aadhaar number of the user,” Mr. Manocha said. The Railways is also planning to extend the passenger insurance scheme to passengers travelling by unreserved tickets, by linking it with their Aadhaar and bank accounts.
Monday, 12 September 2016
At 100, Assam woman wants to run old-age home
- Rahul Karmakar, Hindustan Times, Guwahati |
- Updated: Sep 06, 2016 18:12 IST
How old is too old to start a project?
Ask Aruna Mukherjee, who celebrated her 100th birthday on August 31, and she will tell you she is capable enough to run an old-age home.
The Guwahati-based centurion baffled the civic administration by seeking permission for the home a few days ago.
“The mayor asked who will run the home. I said I will, and loved the look on his face,” Mukherjee told Hindustan Times.
City mayor Mrigen Sarania said the rule books do not have any age bar on humanitarian ventures. “But the zeal of a woman, who at 100 wants to do what many in their youth won’t, is admirable,” he said.
Mukherjee hopes authorities will speed up the formalities for her to start the home in October.
Born in Dhaka, Bangladesh, Mukherjee came to Assam 80 years ago after her marriage. Her deceased husband Jadulal Mukherjee was the head of the chemistry department in Guwahati’s Cotton College, the most sought-after higher education institute in the northeast.
The philanthropist in Aruna emerged in 1947 after she met hungry refugees of Partition from East Pakistan (today’s Bangladesh) at Guwahati Railway Station close to her residence in the city’s Paltanbazar area.
“I felt sorry for the refugees and began feeding many of them, but members of my family objected. So I decided to give up my share of food to continue feeding the people as long as they could not be rehabilitated,” she said.
She has since been living on arrowroot biscuits and tea since besides seasonal oranges. “The citrus fruit, perhaps, gives me the energy to work,” she said.
She has outlived most members of her family, including three sons who were scientists abroad. The fourth son and a daughter live in Canada, visiting her occasionally.
The reasonably agile Mukherjee has refused to budge because she runs several schools for the underprivileged from her residence. She teaches painting, music, knitting, sewing, embroidery and soft toy-making.
An aide said Mukherjee has never suffered from any ailment but has of late been struggling with failing vision and hearing. “But she insists on doing the household chores,” Ganga, the aide, said.
Mukherjee has inspired filmmaker and former beauty pageant winner Bobbeeta Sharma to make a documentary.
“The film is dedicated to her spirit that makes her, at age 100, help people in distress,” Sharma said.
Monday, 5 September 2016
The policy on senior citizens must have a longer outreach
The policy on senior citizens must have a longer outreach
- Hindustan Times |
- Updated: Aug 31, 2016 18:25 IST
The government’s draft National Policy on Senior Citizens, though well-intentioned, can be described only as a statement of wishes and without the backing of legislation this will not result in much. We have the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, which mandates that children shall be legally bound to provide for their parents. Some lacunae had been observed in the law and this led to the National Policy on Senior Citizens set out in 2011, which took into account the constitutional diktat given to the State to make “make effective provision for securing the right to public assistance in cases of old age”. The policies also talked about the “right to equality” and social security as being the “concurrent responsibilities of the central and state governments”. It acquired even greater importance when seen in the light of the fact that India was a signatory to several international covenants on the subject. But the fact that the government had to again bring out a draft policy in just four years proves that the previous one did not make much headway.
A close look at the two policies — 2011 and 2016 – shows many similarities between them. Even the enumeration of the senior citizens of India stands at the same number — about 100 million. Both talk about the health needs of the elderly and health insurance for them. Both take into account the breakdown of the joint family system as a reason for the plight of the elderly. The 2011 policy also considered the fact that since men and women grew old in different ways, women deserved more attention because they were more prone to chronic illnesses. Though we in India have a tradition of respecting our elder citizens, such respect does not always go further than someone sacrificing his seat in a bus or a metro train in their favour. There have been instances of old men and women being abandoned at places such as the Kumbh mela. At home too, old people are looked upon as a burden. Changing these things does not only require a mindset change. It requires the strong backing of the State, which the current policy seeks to provide.
The most important reason for the ineffectiveness of the 2007 legislation was that it was difficult to execute because of the difficulties in apprehending the guilty. And in many cases the extent of guilt cannot be established. True, our society is not as harsh as that depicted in The Ballad of Narayama, in which once a person turned 70 he would be forcibly taken to a location and left to die. Within a structure of family relationships there are many cracks and crevices that the law may not be able to reach. So the wiser policy for the State would be enhance the social-welfare schemes for the old, particularly women, and create a lot more amenities for them. This must be written into the law.
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