Summary of this article
The government has implemented the NCS portal, an online platform for job seekers, including senior citizens, seeking employment.
Seniors can register their skills and experience, while employers can post suitable job opportunities on the portal.
The initiative aims to help job seekers find dignified work.
The elderly population is growing rapidly and is expected to increase from approximately 10 crore (8.4 per cent of the total population of India in 2011 to 23 crore in 2036 (14.9 per cent), accounting for almost 20 per cent by the mid-century, as per the Technical Group on Population Projections constituted by the National Commission on Population.
Very few of this population have pension security and become dependent on their children or other family members or the government after their retirement. Although many of them are fit and willing to work, the typical retirement-age rule of 60 does not allow them to continue working or makes it difficult to seek employment opportunities after turning 60.
Regarding re-employment of senior citizens, parliamentarian Rajinder Gupta, on July 22, 2026, asked in the Rajya Sabha whether the government has developed any portal to facilitate reemployment of senior citizens.
The Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Virendra Kumar, in a written reply, answered that the ministry has implemented a scheme, ‘National Career Service (NCS) Scheme’ to facilitate employment service. The NCS portal is a digital platform, envisaged to offer a one-stop solution for job-seekers to get information about opportunities in both the private and government sectors. The portal also offers information about online and offline job fairs, skill development courses, training programmes and services such as career counseling, vocational guidance, and searching for jobs.
The reply stated, “Under the NCS project, in collaboration with States/Institutions, the Government has approved 407 Model Career Centres (MCCs) across the country. These centres connect local youth and other job-seekers (including senior citizens) with job opportunities through job fairs, the NCS portal, as well as career counselling and training.”
According to the Ministry, more than 5.87 million employers and 64.6 million jobseekers have registered on the NCS portal since its inception in 2015. Of the total number of jobseekers, 0.189 million (1,89,000) jobseekers are senior citizens (60 years and above). Of the vacancies available on the portal, around 0.168 million (1,68,000) vacancies, as per the data on the NCS portal, were found to be suitable for senior citizens.
Amid rising life expectancy, lack of pension security, and changing family structure, it is crucial for everyone to plan for old age and start saving from an early age. While NCS offers a platform to find information about jobs, and over 22.9 million job seekers (including senior citizens) have been shortlisted by employers so far through the portal, one should also be conscious of learning new skills that can help in staying employed or getting employment post-retirement and earning money.
