A parliamentary panel has urged the Centre to
raise the retirement age to 65 years, noting that growing lifespan was adding
to the need for “productive ageing”.
The recommendation for increase in retirement
age comes with a reminder that senior citizens would form 12.4% of the total
population in 2026 from 7.5% in 2001.
“The committee feels that with the increase in
life expectancy and relatively better state of health of people, the government
needs to look at continuity of employment up to 65 years,” said the report of
standing committee of Parliament on social justice and empowerment tabled on
Friday.
It also recommended that government look at
greater post-retirement opportunities for senior citizens and create greater
financial support for the elderly by hiking the old age pension to Rs 1,000 per
month from the present Rs 200 for those above 60 years and Rs 500 for those
above 80 years.
While suggesting immediate redressal for the
ageing population, the panel sought to train the government’s focus on the
60-plus group by pointing out that its growing numbers would be a serious
challenge in health and social care.
Specifically, it underlined that as per
population projections, the 80-plus bloc, the most-vulnerable group, would see
a sharper rise in numbers.
The urgency of parliamentarians towards senior
citizens comes amid growing global realization that increasing lifespan is
creating a new demographic bloc requiring state intervention.
Seeking government attention, the committee
noted that senior citizens comprised 7.5% of the total population in 2001 but
their share is likely to increase to 12.4% in 2026. Importantly, UN projections
say while India’s population will rise by 55% by 2050, that of 60-plus would
increase by 326% and that of 80-plus would go up by 700%.
Given the rising challenge, the panel headed
by Hemanand Biswal found the government response inadequate, noting that “issue
of rapid population ageing in the country has not received due attention of the
government and the community at large”.
The panel said special focus should be on the
octogenarian bloc. “This age group is the most vulnerable and runs the risk of
getting dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson disease, depression in their
older years,” it said, and asked the Centre to constitute an expert group of
relevant government departments to devise specialized healthcare programme for
them.