Speedy implementation of policy on senior citizens demanded
PTI | 09:08 PM,Aug 16,2010(Reopens BES 38) According to NGO HelpAge, 66 per cent of the senior citizens in the country can not afford two square meals a day, 90 per cent of them have no social or health security, 73 per cent are illiterate and can only survive by doing physical labour and 37 per cent are lonely.P Vyasamoorthy, Joint Coordinator for the Protest Day, said, "India signed the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing in 2002 when it committed to halve the old age poverty by 2015, but the reverse is happening in our country." According to another estimate, while the population of BPL (Below Poverty Line) category has gone down below 22 per cent, that in case of the older persons has exceeded 66 per cent. This segment thus is becoming larger and larger, and at the same time getting poorer and poorer. The poorest among the poor are senior citizens, he said.All our governments - at the Centre and in states - have been consistently ignoring and neglecting the welfare of senior citizens, Vyasamoorthy said.
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