The future of old times in India

Source: The post is based on an article “The future of old times in India” published in The Hindu on 15^th September 2022.

Syllabus: GS 2 – Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States

News: India has showed remarkable improvements in life expectancy and fertility rate. But it has brought another emerging challenge of ageing population in India.

India needs to take effort and rebuild its social security scheme to ensure a decent quality of life for the elderly in the near future.

What are the problems with ageing population of India?

According to National Commission of Population, share of the elderly (persons aged 60 years and above) in India’s population was close to 9% in 2011 and it is growing fast and may reach 18% by 2036.

According to a recent survey, 30% to 50% of elderly people had symptoms that make them depressed. A large majority of elderly persons living alone are women, especially widows.

Depression is strongly correlated with poverty, poor health, and loneliness.

Cash in the form pension can help to cope with many health issues and avoid loneliness as well.

That is why old-age pensions are a vital part of social security systems around the world.

What steps have been taken by India for its ageing population?

India has important schemes of non-contributory pensions under the National Social Assistance Program (NSAP) for the elderly, widowed women and disabled persons.

However, NSAP is only available to elderly people who belong to Below Poverty Line (BPL). The data of BPL lists are also unreliable as they are too old.

The central contribution to old-age pensions under NSAP is very low at Rs 200 per month for elders and Rs 300 per month for widows since 2006.

However, many states have increased the coverage of social-security pensions beyond NSAP norms using their own funds and schemes.

One of the reasons behind the low coverage of NSAP is that it is based on targets.

What are the problems with targeting or setting limits on social benefits?

Targeting social benefits is always difficult and is based on household rather than on the individuals. It needs to be corrected because there are many good households where elders and widows may face problems.

Therefore, a pension based on individuals can help them to avoid extreme dependence on relatives.

Targeting also involves complicated formalities such as the submission of BPL certificates and other documents.

These formalities often become problems for less-educated and low-income elders.

There are also other issues with NSAP such as lack of proper awareness, eligibility criteria, lack of implementing mechanism and bureaucratic wills.

What can be done to correct this?

A better approach should be to consider all widows and elderly or disabled persons as eligible.

The eligibility can be made self-declared and time-bound verification responsibilities should be placed on the local administration or gram panchayat.

India’s social assistance schemes have low budgets and these needs expanding.

For example, the NSAP budget this year was less than 0.05% of India’s GDP which is very low compared to the elderly population.

Some states like Odisha and Rajasthan have achieved a near-universal social security pension which is 75%-80% coverage of elderly and widows.

Therefore, other states may also follow this if central government takes efforts to rebuild NSAP.

What can be the further course of action?

India should move from targeted to near-universal pensions as some states have done it.

Social security pension will not be alone sufficient for the elderly as they also need other facilities like health care, disability aids, assistance with daily tasks, etc.

Therefore, the government should research and find possible solutions for its ageing population.