Social security for the 'Old age'

Preparing for Old Age.

Editorial by BUSINESSLINE dated 27Sept, on the ‘Social security issues of the aged’ demands attention by all. Here are some of the points in the article.

Recent efforts to popularize the Reverse Mortgage Loans in the big cities are noteworthy. But they are not sufficient to address the economic needs of the elderly. RMLs provide an existence to the elderly who possess a house, but do not have a regular income to sustain themselves.

Most of India’s 4.7 million aged people (7.5% of the population in 2005) struggle to survive. This number is expected to rise to 141 million (or 10.2 % of population) by 2020. This situation could be worse, if a safety network is not in place.

A study by an Insurance company points out that only 24% of the households in our country have life insurance cover; the coverage of health and other forms are even lower. To extend life insurance, health insurance, old-age security and maternity benefits to the unorganized sector, pension reforms are a must and cannot be put off any longer.

Social security has remained the preserve of a few far too long. This should change. It is necessary to go beyond RMLs.

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Is our Government doing its best (or at least something) for this ? 'Old' population may not be a factor for their power or votes. May be that’s why Government has been excessively liberal in feasting the Central Govt employees. Of course they did good to the Central Govt pensioners too. But think of those 422 million workers who are not covered under any of these kind of social security measures. The ‘unjustified’ part of this huge amount should have gone to that 422 million. Then that would be justice !

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