The Hindu Business Line : We are greying faster with far less to bank on

The UN Population Division predicts that the number of elderly in India will rise from 85 million to over 300 million in about four decades. In Ageing in India, Moneer Alam explores the phenomenon and its social and economic implications, while in The Ageing World, Anil Bagchi identifies ways the elderly can continue to play a productive role in society. And, finally, John A. Vincent, Chris R. Phillipson and Murna Downs in The Futures of Old Age discuss ageing in the modern world. Three books to keep your mind young, says D. MURALI

It is fashionable to talk of India as a young country. Not surprising, therefore, that nobody likes to talk about the aged. For, "Crabbed age and youth cannot live together," as the Bard sings in a sonnet. "Youth is full of pleasance, age is full of care; youth like summer morn, age like winter weather; youth like summer brave, age like winter bare," he'd add. "Youth is full of sport, age's breath is short; youth is nimble, age is lame; youth is hot and bold, age is weak and cold; youth is wild, and age is tame... "

Wild it may seem when the UN Population Division predicts that the elderly population in India will rise from 85 million to over 300 million in about four decades. "An increase of almost three and half times," notes Kanchan Chopra, Director of Institute of Economic Growth, in his foreword to Ageing in India, by Moneer Alam, from Academic Foundation (www.academicfoundation.com). "India is not only greying at a pace faster than many of the industrialised societies but also with very limited resources — both physical and financial," cautions Chopra.

It may come as a surprise to many that we have a National Policy on Older Persons (NPOP). "However, many of the provisions described in this policy document await proper implementation," informs the preface. A main reason for this neglect is "the lack of necessary understanding about the issues of ageing."

In Romeo and Juliet, says Friar Laurence, "Thy old groans ring yet in my ancient ears." But what may take years to ring in the policymakers' ears can be the groans of the old, "especially against the backdrop of the ongoing pro-market reforms, persisting disparities, growing erosions in traditional values, low financial status, high prevalence of functional disabilities, lack of social support mechanisms, declining public welfare activities and so on."

The `aged' are 60 plus. But not all the aged are equally old; the 60-69 age group is called `young old', while the rest are the older old. Around half of the total elderly population in India lives with spouse and other family members including children, states the book. "Staying in old age homes still remains an unusual phenomenon with barely 3 per cent of the total elderly population in such homes."

As evident all around, us in cities, "the economically independent aged are less likely to be staying with family or children," preferring instead to be loners or living with the spouse. Is this an indication that multigenerational living is turning to be a tradition of the past, wonders Alam?

A significant feature of Indian ageing is the predominance of women, perhaps because men are `more prone to lifestyle diseases such as blood pressure, heart problems and diabetes'. Yet, elderly men from the higher income categories are far more active compared to women, one learns. "Old age work is more a phenomenon of poverty and economic insecurity, particularly in the case of women," points out Alam, with ample numbers to back from his sample study.

The book has informative charts and tables on varied topics such as distribution of diseases, marital status, literacy levels, dependency burden, per capita expenditure and so forth. A chapter on socio-economic issues upsets the myth that a large number of children essentially help parents to feel more secure in their old age. It also touches upon a raw nerve, viz. the views of the elderly on declining returns on savings. Surprisingly, only one in four of the responding aged felt vulnerable as a result of the interest rate declines. Is this because the concept of planned ageing, as judged by old age saving, is yet to fully evolve in the country, asks Alam.

The final chapter has suggestions for policy interventions in areas such as geriatric health care, financing of old age security, differential rates of interest, and insurance.

Elders will be accommodated in the mainstream

For a worldview of the evergreen problem of ageing, let us turn to Anil Bagchi's The Ageing World, from Pearson Education (www.pearsoned.co.in). He begins with the question, `Who are the old?' Is it 65 that authors often stick to, or 60? "Today nobody gets old at 60 or 65 and an average person remains fine at that age," declares Bagchi. That should cheer up the old. For more, read about how in the Roman army many of the soldiers, including the centurions, were above 60. At a time when the average longevity was no more than 20 plus, "many of the charioteers participating in the fierce sporting events were those who would be categorised as senior citizens today." A positive forecast from the World Bank is that a substantial proportion of the children born in the latter part of the twentieth century will live well into the twenty-second century.

While there can be arguments on when to call a person elderly, a fact we have to live with is ageing. But what is ageing? "A progressive overall deterioration of different parts of the body, that starts after a particular age. On any given day the degeneration is a sub-clinical addition, but the process is relentless." Chapter heading may give a clue to what you should be doing as antidote, `eat less and live well'.

Part two of the book is devoted to `grey dynamics'. Bagchi doesn't foresee a shortage of occupation for the old. "The elders may decide to work or do what they are largely doing, which is enjoying leisure, but that will not change the situation," he notes. Because, jobs will be created only when the elders work.

"The elders will be grandly accommodated in the mainstream if they willingly get involved in the evolution of the new society, in the emotional space made available to them," promises the author. "If they resist they will suffer along with others. The resistance will drag one and all down, and if the drag becomes more than what the society can overcome it will head downhill." Ominous.

Towards a dignified, fulfilled old age

How will we adapt to an older population? John A. Vincent, Chris R. Phillipson and Murna Downs explore the answers to the question in The Futures of Old Age, from Sage (www.sagepublications.com). The book, published in association with the British Society of Gerontology, brings together more than a score essays, arranged in seven sections.

"The possibility of living a dignified fulfilled old age depends on both the numbers of older people and societal attitudes towards them," say the editors in the intro. "Old age can be thought of as a stage in the life course, one of a series of transitions that people pass through between birth and death."

The penultimate chapter is on the impact of globalisation on ageing, by Phillipson. Globalisation poses a challenge to the notion of a `normal biography' constructed around a linear model of the life course, states the author. "There will be losers and winners in this process," he adds. In the short term an increase in racism and associated forms of oppression may create divisions within the population of older people, warns Phillipson.

A way out may be migration, which Tony Warnes discusses in the final chapter. Through a chart, the author explains `the accumulation of human capital through the life course', and observes that social networks (or, `who you know') are less likely to influence the quality of life in retirement than occupational positioning and progress.

Three books to keep your mind young even as you age a wee bit over the weekend.

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