Delhi tops in caring for its elderly
Survey Reveals Senior Citizens In City Face Least Abuse, 68% Own Property
Rumu Banerjee TNN
New Delhi: Delhi may have a reputation as a city without a heart but a recent survey by an NGO shows that it is also the place where elderly face least abuse. The survey, carried out across various metropolitan cities in the country, found Delhi has the least percentage of elderly abuse reported — 15.4%. In comparison, in Bhopal 79.3% respondents faced some form of abuse while in Kolkata 22.8% reported physical abuse.
The survey, carried out in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Bhopal, Patna, Kolkata and Hyderabad, polled senior citizens above the age of 60 years. The findings thrown up are interesting, especially in the backdrop of Delhi’s alarming trend of crimes against senior citizens. And while the survey, done by HelpAge India underlined the need for a better support system for the elderly in the country — a shocking 92% said they had not registered a complaint against the abuser — it brings some good cheer for the capital which has been in the news for some petty crimes against the old people in the past year.
The capital also have the highest number of elderly owning property in the country (68.3%), with 62% deriving their main source of income from pension.
The survey found that 19% of abuse victims faced it from their domestic help. But the maximum abuse was inflicted by their own children, with 53.6% admitting they had faced some form of abuse from their son. As usual, the main context of abuse was property (35.4%) followed by lack of emotional support (30.2%).
The bad news is that a large number of elderly seem unaware of existing laws to protect them, with only one third of the elderly (33%) being aware. For Delhi though, there’s a silver lining, as the HelpAge survey revealed that the awareness of laws and programmes is highest in Delhi (53.8%) followed by Mumbai (44.7%) and Kolkata (40.3%). The awareness level is lowest in Bhopal (8%).
The survey by HelpAge brings home the need to not only widen the scope of policing in curbing elderly abuse but also spread awareness about the laws. Said Sonali Sharma of HelpAge, ‘‘Awareness about the issues is the first step in tackling the problem.’’ The National Crime Records Bureau 2008 had shown Delhi had the maximum number of crimes against the elderly (15%).
Source:http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=CAP&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI
Rumu Banerjee TNN
New Delhi: Delhi may have a reputation as a city without a heart but a recent survey by an NGO shows that it is also the place where elderly face least abuse. The survey, carried out across various metropolitan cities in the country, found Delhi has the least percentage of elderly abuse reported — 15.4%. In comparison, in Bhopal 79.3% respondents faced some form of abuse while in Kolkata 22.8% reported physical abuse.
The survey, carried out in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, Bhopal, Patna, Kolkata and Hyderabad, polled senior citizens above the age of 60 years. The findings thrown up are interesting, especially in the backdrop of Delhi’s alarming trend of crimes against senior citizens. And while the survey, done by HelpAge India underlined the need for a better support system for the elderly in the country — a shocking 92% said they had not registered a complaint against the abuser — it brings some good cheer for the capital which has been in the news for some petty crimes against the old people in the past year.
The capital also have the highest number of elderly owning property in the country (68.3%), with 62% deriving their main source of income from pension.
The survey found that 19% of abuse victims faced it from their domestic help. But the maximum abuse was inflicted by their own children, with 53.6% admitting they had faced some form of abuse from their son. As usual, the main context of abuse was property (35.4%) followed by lack of emotional support (30.2%).
The bad news is that a large number of elderly seem unaware of existing laws to protect them, with only one third of the elderly (33%) being aware. For Delhi though, there’s a silver lining, as the HelpAge survey revealed that the awareness of laws and programmes is highest in Delhi (53.8%) followed by Mumbai (44.7%) and Kolkata (40.3%). The awareness level is lowest in Bhopal (8%).
The survey by HelpAge brings home the need to not only widen the scope of policing in curbing elderly abuse but also spread awareness about the laws. Said Sonali Sharma of HelpAge, ‘‘Awareness about the issues is the first step in tackling the problem.’’ The National Crime Records Bureau 2008 had shown Delhi had the maximum number of crimes against the elderly (15%).
Source:http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Daily/skins/TOINEW/navigator.asp?Daily=CAP&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI
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