Authorities may not plan enough for the country’s aged, but NGOs like HelpAge India do

While we are busy patting our backs over India’s demographic dividend, we forget there are 90 million aged people living here currently and that today’s youth will be tomorrow’s senior citizens; older and wiser. Though our Centre seems oblivious to data that points towards our country’s impending state of being a more matured nation one day, there is one organisation that has been working since 1978 giving a voice to the seemingly invisible senior citizens of this country—HelpAge India. It was started by a senior IAS officer Samson Daniel. Post-retirement Daniel wished to start a home for the aged on a plot he owned near Chhattarpur (NCR). Though he had the land, he did not have the cash for construction. Thereby, he did what any smart person would—pestered friends, family and nodding acquaintances; anyone willing to lend an ear and money to the cause. His quest led him to an English gentleman working for a British organisation called Help the Aged. The gentleman gave Daniel a gift far more useful than capital—he offered him a chance to travel to Britain and learn the art of raising funds in a systematic manner. Upon returning, Daniel, who was an organised man to begin with, managed to raise enough money to allow him to construct an old-age home and left some extra. He decided to put that extra bit into building a welfare organisation for the aged called HelpAge India; inspired by the NGO, Help the Aged, which he had the fortune of observing closely. In 1986, a year after its Founder had passed away, HelpAge made its foray into Sri Lanka with MM Sabarwal (former Chairperson of Dunlop and Bata) at its helm. And HelpAge International began. Today, HelpAge especially focuses on advocacy and rights of senior citizens. Of all NGOs working for the aged in India, HelpAge has especially concentrated upon policy research. Their R&D department is responsible for conducting surveys on what the website calls ‘ageing issues’. It takes the survey findings to concerned national and international forums comprising policy-makers, academicians, senior citizens and NGOs working on age care. HelpAge is also responsible for creating awareness among stakeholders and citizens through seminars, workshops and booklets. Some of their publications include Senior Citizens Guide based on information on concessions, privileges and benefits given to older people by governments and private organisations. The NGO also publishes a Directory of Old Age Homes. Presently, HelpAge’s Chief Executive Mathew Cherian represents his NGO on various platforms such as the National Planning Commission, sharing data dug by HelpAge and participating in formal and informal discussions on Five Year Plan Documents and Union Ministry recommendations on the Plan document to the National Planning Commission. HelpAge is also a member of the National Council of Older Persons. After he was made responsible for the organisation, Sabarwal (a corporate manager and a great one at that) assimilated functions of HelpAge even further. Being a corporate man, he understood the significance of having the right people on the team. He organised the Trust, Board and day-to-day functions even further, bringing HelpAge closer to its present avatar. Currently, the NGO works in 23 state capitals. It has a presence in 8,000 villages where it runs 75 mobile health centres and 86 physiotherapy clinics. Around 22 state capitals have helplines run by HelpAge India where senior citizens can call and seek help whenever they are lonely, abused or need medical help. Talking to the DW team, Cherian points out that increasingly HelpAge’s helplines have been receiving calls related to cases of abuse meted out to senior citizens by their children. “The world is getting more and more impatient. Previously, people had the decency to wait for their turn—to become the so-called heads of families or to gain personal wealth. In this individualistic world, children want the house or the property as soon as possible. They see parents as a hindrance to personal profit. Perhaps that is why there are so many cases where people have resorted to violence against their parents to claim what is rightfully theirs and would be theirs anyway,” says Cherian with a touch of bitterness in his voice. This former Chairperson of Oxfam India is now the executive personnel presiding over the whole of the Indian operation. To a certain degree, he faults the Indian education system which disallows the study of moral sciences in institutions. His, and his teams’, efforts are now concentrated around making young people aware of the implications of violence meted out to the senior-most members of a family. “The Centre seems to have a problem with the study of moral science as they see it as an advocacy of religious behaviour. HelpAge was discouraged from asking the NCERT to include chapters on empathetic behavior taking examples from the Bible, Quran or the Vedas in the school curricula. However, we have pushed authorities to include lessons on ethical behavior in their school curricula. Finally, what HelpAge is seeking is fundamental; have a little decency to treat your elders with kindness and care, as much care as you would expect when you grow old. And we expect the authorities to take responsibility for the senior citizens of the country,” he explains. In India, where politicians, policy makers and planners are all above the average age of 60, it comes as a surprise that senior citizens’ rights are not prioritised. NGOs such as HelpAge are not giving up yet in their fight to a free world—free from domestic abuse and violence.