Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007, states that;

“The State Government may establish and maintain such number of old age homes at accessible places, as it may deem necessary, in a phased manner, beginning with at least one in each district to accommodate in such homes a minimum of one hundred fifty senior citizens who are indigent.”

The moment a legal document like a Legislative Act, writes words like”may” or “as it may deem necessary” then it is not a legal binding on any state authority, it is only a suggestion which may or may not be followed.

The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens (Amendment) Bill, 2019 was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 11-12-2019, and seems to have got an “In principle approval” but then, Ageing is not a trending topic due to which, even after 3.5 years the (Amendment) Bill is still being debated. (The document can be accessed here).

On one hand there is a lot of positive development happening at the ground level w.r.t senior citizens care and welfare, however if simple policy amendments starts taking 3-4 years, then it may not be helpful for the poor and/or the underprivileged elderly.

NGO’s and concerned citizens need to come forward to support the cause of Aged Care and help the government with necessary academic information and also support in giving feedback about the ground level issues.

Why do we require the judiciary to intervene on social welfare schemes, care and well-being should function on auto-mode and not be pulled up by the judiciary.
Feedback on the current status of Amendment Bill will be appreciated.

Pankaj Mehrotra