Though Odisha has 3.98 million elderly persons aged 60 years and above, constituting 9.5 per cent of the total population against a national average of 8.5 per cent and 50 per cent elderly continue to work in their old age due economic compulsion, the utilisation of the three national social security schemes, Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme (IGNWPS) and Annapurna Scheme, meant for them has been ‘very low’ in the State, revealed a report ‘Status of elderly in Odisha’ prepared by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) on Tuesday.
The UNFPA report, the first of its kind for the elderly, which was released by Women and Child Development, Planning and Coordination Minister Usha Devi, revealed that utilisation of IGNWPS is the highest at 50 per cent, followed by 22 per cent for IGNOAPS and less than 1 per cent for Annapurna Scheme, although awareness about these schemes is high.
While the elderly are aware of other plans and schemes like Madhu Babu Pension Yojana, programme for care of older persons, national family benefit scheme, day care centres and emergency feeding, their implementation has been less than satisfactory, it added.The report was prepared after 9852 elderly were interviewed on different aspects of their livelihood covering seven States like Odisha, Kerela, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal.
The report predicted that the elderly population will increase to 6.27 million by 2016 and will comprise of 13.8 per cent of the total population.
Observing that ageing is a silent revolution and many countries including India are not yet prepared for the demographic shift, UNFPA Representative for India and Bhutan Frederika Meijer suggested that policy and programme interventions should consider various dimensions of vulnerability which are being faced by the elderly in the State.
The W&CD Minister assured that all efforts would be made taking all stakeholders to ensure a conducive atmosphere for elderly people in every respect.Health Department Special Secretary Nalinikanta Das said 10-bed physiotherapy units for elderly people would be opened at all the District Headquarters Hospitals soon.
The report stated that 10 per cent of the elderly experience abuse which is higher among elderly women and it is sad to note that most of the abuse is inflicted by family members, particularly sons.With regard to their health status, 50 per cent elderly is suffering from chronic morbidity, highest being arthritis followed by hypertension, while diabetes and heart ailments are more common among the urban elderly.