The Grey Factor
Within three decades, India will be a country of old women and men. “During the same period, the population of 80-plus persons will grow 700 per cent with a predominance of widowed and highly dependent very old women,” it says. “The problem is not the elderly, but there are fewer young people to take care of them,” says Professor KS James at Centre for Study of Regional Development, Jawaharlal Nehru University. “Till date, there is not a single old age home in any district run by the government of India,” says Mathew Cherian, Chief Executive Officer, Helpage India. Last year, HelpAge India’s pilot trained volunteers in Shimla, Leh and Cuddalore who regularly visit homes of 2,500 elderly and take care of their daily basic health and hygiene needs.
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Silver lining
Silver lining
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