The government is focusing on many issues to improve access and protection for India's ageing population, such as:
Minimum standards for old-age homes.
Setting up a dedicated grievance redress system for cases of elder neglect and abuse.
Improving Digital Inclusion of elderly, and more.
The Union government is preparing a new national policy for senior citizens, more than a decade after the last framework was put in place. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has begun drafting the policy, with discussions taking place earlier this year at the fourth meeting of the National Council for Senior Citizens, chaired by Minister Virendra Kumar.
The move comes against the backdrop of a sharp demographic shift. India’s elderly population, which made up just over 8 per cent of the population in 2011, is projected to touch 12 per cent by 2026 and nearly 20 per cent by 2047. With such a surge, policymakers say the new policy must move beyond welfare and address empowerment, digital inclusion, healthcare, and the dignity of ageing.
At the council meeting, the officials and stakeholders had debated issues ranging from minimum standards for old-age homes to setting up a dedicated grievance redress system for cases of elder neglect and abuse.
The idea of institutionalising the role of NGOs and senior citizen associations in both policy design and monitoring was also discussed, so that feedback and on-ground realities are not lost in paperwork.
The government is also focusing on improving digital access for the elderly. Since most government backed schemes and most of the social interaction has moved online in the past few years, bridging the digital gap for senior citizens is becoming more important.
The council also took stock of existing programmes such as the Rashtriya Vayoshri Yojana, which has provided more than five lakh elderly people with free assistive devices, and the Integrated Programme for Senior Citizens, under which over 700 NGOs are supported to run homes, physiotherapy centres, and mobile healthcare units.
The current draft policy is expected to draw from past frameworks such as the first National Policy on Older Persons announced in 1999, followed by the 2011 version headed by Mohini Giri, and later the National Action Plan for Welfare of Senior Citizens launched in 2020.
What sets the new effort apart, however, is the attempt to align with the government’s larger “Viksit Bharat @2047” vision, in which one-fifth of the population will be over 60.
The reviews taken up by parliamentary committees over the years flagged existing gaps in the execution such as delay in the implementation of schemes, lagging coordination between ministries, and weak institutional mechanisms that are supposed to protect senior’s rights. Many of these issues are ongoing concerns.
While the draft is still under consultation, the emphasis appears to be shifting from simply providing for senior citizens to recognising them as active contributors in society.
Alongside healthcare and support services, the policy is likely to focus on community engagement, intergenerational bonding, and creating spaces where ageing is seen less as a burden and more as a continuation of participation and purpose.
