Topic > Elder Abuse in India

"Say No to Plagiarism. Get a Customized Essay on "Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay"Elder Abuse Can Be Defined as a Single Act or persistent, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within families or relationships where there is an expectation of trust that causes harm to an older person"". Elder abuse can take various forms, such as financial, physical, psychological and sexual resulting voluntarily or involuntarily” (WHO). India has approximately 71 million people aged 65 and above, two-thirds of whom live just above the poverty line. As in many developing countries, retired public service workers make up the majority of members of the minority with reasonable pension rights. Up to 90 percent of the workforce has no pension coverage at all, or only strictly means-tested coverage that has the character of a benefit of last resort. The state government and union territories have developed their own old age pension schemes the eligibility criterion and the amount of pension allocated varies among these states. The percentage of elderly people benefiting from the old age pension scheme varies from state to state, from 0.3% to 68%. The National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS) was developed in the 1990s with a focus on the deprived. The national budget allocation for NOAPS amounts to 0.6% compared to the 6% of central government revenue spent on the pensions of its employees. In 1999, the central government started another social security program called “Annapurna Programme” for the elderly living in poverty. Under the program, 10 kg of rice/wheat per month are distributed free of charge to all elderly people entitled to NOAPS: the number of beneficiaries is estimated to be 6.6 million. A national project titled OASIS (Old Age Social & Income Security, India) was commissioned as a result of growing concern over the social and income security of the elderly, especially the 330 million workers in the unorganized sector (including farmers, shopkeepers , professionals, contract workers, etc.). Under this project, every young worker can accumulate enough savings during his working life to serve as a shield against poverty in later life. The need for this has arisen due to lack of adequate tools to enable workers in the unorganized sector to provide for their future old age. Poverty in old age is more common among older women than among older men. In most countries pensions are calculated on the basis of salary and years worked, both of which tend to be lower for women than men due to the gender division of paid and unpaid work (Evandrou and Glaser 2003). Because women live longer than men and spend longer periods living alone than men do in later life, they are more affected than men by additional expenses resulting from dilapidated housing, lack of spousal support, increased of healthcare costs and the lack of economies of scale in single-person families. Aging involves a series of physiological changes. It not only affects a person's appearance but also becomes a cause of physical deterioration. How a person ages depends on gender, socioeconomic determinants, physical environment, personal and behavioral factors, and the availability of health and social services. Thanks to improved healthcare, our average life expectancy is"