As India Aged, 32% of the Elderly got 71% of Government Money

What happens to the elderly-programme funds that are sanctioned to the states?

Five states with no more than 32 percent of India’s population of senior citizens (above 60) cornered 71 percent of the Rs 34 crore that the Centre provided for maintenance of old-age homes over the past four years, according to an analysis of government data.

India is known for its demographic dividend, but the country is ageing, its elderly population rising 36 percent over 10 years. The skewed funding of a centrally-run elderly care programme indicates that some states are better prepared than others to navigate the formidable bureaucracy that sanctions grants to NGOs.

Of the Rs 34 crore, Rs 24 crore (71 percent) went to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Odisha, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal – states that are home to one-third of India’s senior citizens – revealed our analysis, based on data from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.

The data includes the number of old-age homes assisted, funding granted and beneficiaries targeted under the Integrated Programme for Older Persons (IPOP) over four financial years, 2012-13, 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16.

Government funding through the IPOP covers 90 percent of costs to build and maintain old-age homes, day care centres and mobile medicare units for indigent senior citizens. It is managed by the social defence bureau of the social justice ministry.

India had 103.8 million citizens above the age of 60 at the end of 2011, up from 77 million in 2001, the rising numbers a result of falling fertility rate and growing life expectancy, IndiaSpend reported in May 2016.

An increase in elderly population implies greater responsibility for the government and civil society organisations in providing shelter, food and healthcare for the aged. Currently, the skewed funding reflects the lack of attention to this ageing.

Andhra Pradesh, with seven million fewer senior citizens, got almost eight times more funding than Uttar Pradesh

Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, has more people above 60 than any other state (15 million or 14.86 per cent), but it got no more than 3.22 percent of central funds to maintain old-age homes. With 7.97 per cent of senior citizens (eight million), Andhra Pradesh – the data includes Telangana – got almost eight times as much money as Uttar Pradesh.

With 20.77 percent of India’s above-60 population, three southern states, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, cornered 52.16 per cent of IPOP funding over the four financial years mentioned.

Andhra Pradesh also has the most IPOP beneficiaries nationwide (5,100), six times more than Uttar Praadesh’s 700. The anomalies affect the poorest and most-populous states.

With seven million aged persons, Bihar has the fifth largest population of elderly people, but it received 0.70 per cent of national funding; Rajasthan, home to five million senior citizens, got 1.1 percent.

Karnataka and Madhya Pradesh have similar proportions of people above 60 - 5.57 percent and 5.50 percent - but Karnataka, with 13.88 percent of IPOP funds, got 13 times as much funding as Madhya Pradesh over the last four financial years, during which Madhya Pradesh had 1.25 percent of IPOP beneficiaries compared to Karnataka’s 12 percent.

Odisha, which is not even among the top 10 states for senior citizen’s population, got 12.53 percent of the funds granted to old-age homes over four years and ranks second in both beneficiaries targeted and old-age homes funded.

Among the top-10 funded states are Assam and Manipur, which collectively got 10.59 percent of funds but are home to only 2.18 percent of India’s elderly population.

With four million elderly persons, Gujarat ranks 10th on the list of senior citizens, but it received no elderly care funding over the last four financial years. Kerala, which ranks 11th, received no funding in 2012-13 and 2014-15.

A newly-introduced online grant-in-aid application mechanism does not cut paperwork, said experts; it has introduced potential intermediaries in a process already termed “tedious”.

The number of old-age homes supported under the IPOP has declined over the last few years: 269 were funded by the central government in 2012-13, declining to 207 in 2013-14 and 187 in 2014-15.

The Supreme Court, in April 2016, issued notice to the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment in response to a public interest litigation filed by former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who insisted that while there were enough laws and policies for the elderly, they were improperly implemented.