Elderly Care in India - Societal and State Responses

This volume highlights a range of issues underpinning elder care in India, with particular focus on the challenges that India faces in caring for the elderly. In addition to the very limited state support and near total dependence on the family for long-term social care and economic support, the changing dynamics between generations in the family structure and privatization of health care in general create new challenges that need to be addressed.  

Although care plays a significant role in the well-being of the elderly, there is not much research available from India. This volume draws on field-based evidence and the legal framework in India to understand the ways in which care is organized for the elderly and to locate the main sources of care provision. The book addresses key themes such as shrinking of traditional support base of the elderly, trajectory of old age homes in India and care arrangements for the elderly within the community. Written by academics and practitioners in the field of gerontology, this book is an informative resource for demographers, gerontologists, social scientists studying aging, and human rights and legal experts working with the aged.    

S. Irudaya Rajan is Professor at the Centre for Development Studies, Kerala, India. Currently, he is the President of the Association of Gerontology (AGI) as well as Kerala Economic Association (KEA). He has published extensively in national and international journals on social, economic, health and demographic facets of aging. He is the lead author of the book, India's Elderly: Burden or Challenge? (1999) and has edited Social Security for the Elderly: Experiences from South Asia (2008). He has developed the first longitudinal Ageing Survey in India (Kerala) since 2004, repeated every three years, entering into the fifth wave in 2016. Professor Rajan has been involved in several projects on aging funded by the United Nations (UN), United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), the World Bank, International Labour Organization (ILO), HelpAge International, South Asian Network of Economic Institutes, Indo-Dutch Program on Alternatives in Development, Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute and International Development Research Centre. He has also undertaken considerable research on migration and is the editor the annual series, India Migration Report as well as editor-in-chief of the journal Migration and Development.
Gayathri Balagopal is an independent researcher based in south India. She has worked on health and care needs of the elderly. Her work experience has been in the development sector as researcher with the Banyan Academy of Leadership in Mental Health, Chennai and as consultant (Research, Monitoring and Evaluation) with the Health Portfolio of the Navajbai Ratan Tata Trust and Sir Ratan Tata Trust, Mumbai. She has researched rehabilitation of homeless women with mental health issues, employment problems confronting persons with mental health issues and documented community mental health programmes in India. Her research interests are in gerontology, public health, mental health and social security.