Out of the 1 lakh crores (INR) of CSR expenditure in 5 years (2016-2021), unfortunately there is still no accurate data on how much was actually spent on Eldercare. 

As per the CSR website, Old Age Homes is clubbed with three other causes i.e. Gender Equality, Women Empowerment & Reducing Inequalities. Technically the heading should be Elderly Care or Senior Citizen Care yet at the national level we are still stuck with the word Old Age Homes.

Of the 14 main development sectors listed in the CSR website, it is heartbreaking to see that, Indian corporate sector is completely out of sync about the needs of the elderly of our country who are the 10+% voting population.

The reason for my being so vocal about the cause of Senior Citizens is simple, “It is my future which is at stake and I have paid enough taxes to be cared for in my old age”. 

The big question is, what if I don’t have the resources to survive in my old age? Should I depend upon the government or the corporate sector CSR?

Assuming that 25% of the amount under the group heading of “Gender Equality, Women Empowerment, Old Age Homes, Reducing Inequalities”, was spent on Elderly Care, the total amount comes to 716 crores over a period of 5 years, which is only 0.69% of the total expenditure of CSR in 5 years.

CSR report by Samihta highlights that, the total amount spent on Elderly Care between 2014-2020 was only 177.36 crores which was just 0.19% of the total amount spent on CSR amounting to 92,793 Crores over 5 years. 

Is the cause of old age so untouchable that corporate sector also does not want to invest into their own future?

It seems Eldercare is not a CSR priority in India. To be honest, why should the corporate sector be concerned about Ageing, afterall none of the management or the staff would be requiring any govt aid or private sector support in their golden years.

If concerned citizens who are educated & in a position to influence the policies do not come forward, then in my opinion this sector will remain unattended.

As a country, if we do not make course correction today then in my view, we will have a high percentage of the 200 odd million elders in the next decade who will be without any social security nor will be able to afford elderly care services.

Either the entire country is oblivious to the hard facts of elderly care needs or there is some major data mining error.

All I can say is, don’t be an ostrich and bury your head in the sand, hoping your problems will disappear. Problems of such magnitude do not disappear overnight, they have to be addressed that too before the problem gets out of hand.

Pankaj Mehrotra