Dr. Sharatchandra Gokhale, former president of the International Federation on Ageing from 1992 to 1997, has also worked as a UN Advisor on Ageing. A Masters in social work from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, he has carved a niche for himself, as a leading social scientist. Excerpts from an interview. v What is old age and how important is it in India? That ageing is a western concept is wrong. It is a burning issue in the developing countries and that includes India. The way people look at ageing in the West is quite different from the oriental look which is based on the philosophy of life. For the Westerners, death is the end of a book. In an oriental culture, death is only the end of a chapter. Old age is no more just a demographic issue now for India but a developmental issue as well.Retirement is often considered as the beginning of death, therefore people are afraid of retirement and ageing. One of my colleagues, Mary Hoffer said this when her husband inched towards retirement, ``Earlier, I had a full- time salary and a part-time husband. Now, I have a part-time salary and a full-time husband.''While most social scientists abroad predict that family as an institution is going to be demolished, I believe that the Indian family may change face and form but not wither.The concept of a family in the West implies members who legally live under the same roof and eat under the same hearth. But, in India, family members may live in different villages or towns but the family bond continues. An Indian family has a political orientation and is the smallest form of democracy.v Do you think problems of old age have increased with longevity?Gradually, the structure of our society has changed. Earlier, 60 plus comprised eight per cent of the population. Soon, they will comprise 20 per cent. Thanks to modern medicine, longevity has increased. For example, the facility of pension was economically viable to the government since people used to live an average 10 to 15 years after retirement. Today, they work for 30 years and live for the same period or more, after retirement. This disturbs the economic balance.In Pune, you have retirees who were former bureaucrats, academicians, defence officials and other government officers. They are all kicking and alive and form a formidable voting population. According to the WHO, the young old comprise people up to 75 years, the old old up to 90 years and the frail old 90 years and above. Old age need not be burdensome. They have a lot to still participate in society.In my capacity as the president of the International Federation of Ageing, we were creating a world policy on ageing and had prepared a draft on the declaration of the rights of the elderly. Some of the issues comprised whether the elderly had the right to die, which means doctors can intervene to prevent pain but not interfere with God. But the Catholic countries opposed it. On whether they had the right to work, was opposed by countries like Germany, UK and USA. We also wanted to undertake a study on the state of old women above 60 years but the Arab countries opposed it. So, finally, the UN converted these into mere guidelines.What is your opinion about old age homes?Presently, old age homes in India are like prisons. I had visited retirement villages in Australia where even a former prime minister of Australia resides. They are a conglomerate of small houses with individual pantries and gardens. Besides, there's a common bank, canteen, doctors and nurses and a bus that commutes the elderly residing here to and fro the village and the main city.In Japan, you have what is called as the Sunshine Homes wherein destitute children reside along with the elderly and a family kind of a situation is created. I visited some old age homes in USA too and I found that love and affection was missing in them. Old age homes seemed like a refrigerator here - useful just for freezing your social problems.The nearest pattern for India, I think, is where a retirement village is created like that in Australia and is modified to our standard and method of living, with relevant subsidised services. Also, the place for the elderly must be one, where the senior citizens, if still capable, physically and mentally should keep working as per their skills. And where there is freedom to do what the senior citizen wants to do, as per his life-long habits. I have talked with Shashikant Paranjape, a noted builder of the city for the construction of a retirement village somewhere near Pune. The plans are still in their infancy.Finally, you cannot bury all your problems in an institution. Undoubtedly, if a family unit happily accommodates their own elderly, there's nothing like it. Youngsters keep complaining about lack of space at home but I think dil mein jagah chahiye (There should be place in your heart).What do you think of the senior citizens in Pune?They are productive, participatory and healthy. In a study conducted by us sometime back, we found that out of the 7,000 respondents who were given a form to answer some queries, many of them wanted to be still active, they were not helpless and could take care of themselves and most felt that they needed to be understood by their own family members.
