The Hindu Business Line : <I>Looking after the advanced in years </I>

The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, approved by the Central Cabinet on February 22, for introduction in the current session of Parliament, is, in fact, a sad acknowledgement of the breakdown of an age-old and hallowed cultural tradition of this ancient land.

The principal contributory factor of the inherent strength and vitality of Indian society has been the joint family system which served several purposes at the same time: It provided an emotional bonding with all the members of the clan often extending to distant cousins; there was community effort in preserving and furthering common interests and assets; all members of the joint family felt responsibility for the rearing of children of every member; in the process, they helped in nurturing and handing down family values; the presence of the elders induced in others a sense of discipline, decorum and restraint and made them observe an informal code of civilised conduct in inter-personal relations; the elders also served as role models for the younger members and as a readily accessible treasure-house of experience and advice; in return, the elders derived from the joint family the benefits of social welfare which was a source of security, support and care in their old age consistent with their self-respect; the joint family helped develop the ability to relate better with the outside world also in harmonious adjustment and accommodation with variegated temperaments and situations.

The hold of the joint family was such that grown-up sons would spurn even well-paid jobs if they took them away from their parents.

Fading memory

All of that is now turning into a fading memory. There is no point in bemoaning the passing of an era which is out of sync with the current realities. Members of the younger generation cannot be faulted for making the most of their talents and the opportunities coming their way.

There is a certain pathos in the very fact of persons in the evening of their lives finding themselves left to their own devices, while their offspring spread their wings and fly away to the far corners of the world.

In the case of old persons who have not trained themselves to be emotionally self-contained or those who do not have adequate financial resources to support themselves, the loneliness can be quite painful.

Not surprisingly, many older parents, who can afford it, have entered nursing homes.

Those who cannot afford and have to depend on their progeny confront a fate worse then death, being neglected, or worse, ill-treated, by their sons and daughters. To what extent the proposed Bill will remedy the situation is difficult to say, for love and compassion cannot be mandated by legislation.

The Bill provides for three months' jail and Rs 5000 in fine, in cases of proven neglect or default in payment of the court-ordered amounts as maintenance. It also envisages setting up of tribunals at sub-divisional levels in each district to settle complaints of the elderly against their children and to even take suo moto action against children, who do not take proper care of their elderly parents.

The law is most likely to be a dead letter since in the prevailing Indian ethos, most parents would rather suffer in silence than wash dirty linen in an open judicial forum.

The Government should, therefore, in addition to the law, for whatever it is worth, put into effect an insurance/pension scheme for the elderly in relation to their social status and undertake a massive programme of construction of old age homes to suit different income categories.

B. S. RAGHAVAN

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