The smarter seniors

-Open page- September 30, 2018

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My article published in the Hindu

How the elderly are increasingly adapting to the changing realities of life and learning to manage on their own

It is often said that poverty in childhood and loneliness in old age are curses on human beings. Maybe this statement was made during the years when the situation of elders living alone was a rare occurrence. In the olden days the joint family system existed in India. This beautiful social institution took care of elders, the orphaned children, destitutes and widows. But in today’s global village scenario, when the children are more often than not settled elsewhere in the globe, the elders are left alone. It may be due to the children’s inability to take them along with them or due to the desire of the elders themselves to stay alone in India. The result is that a growing number of elders are managing their lives alone. A casual conversation with such seniors reveal fascinating real-life stories. Most of them are women, maybe because women outlive men in the prevalent demographic pattern in India.

One such living-alone senior woman said she is now happy to be able to give full attention to her basic needs related to food, health, sleep and rest, after decades of giving preference to the needs of the family members all the time at the expense of her physical, mental and emotional needs.

Another such woman, basically a spiritual person, had never found adequate time for her religious duties. But now she is immensely happy that during her sunset years she is able to spend more time in the company of god. Moreover, she has realised late in life that the proper way of thanking god and pleasing him is to help the less-privileged living around her. Ever since this realisation came, she is more into community service and derives peace of mind through it.

Another woman who retired from a hectic career of 30 years said that during her roller-coaster life of managing her children and her career, she never found the time to pursue her passions, such as writing, reading, painting and gardening. Now she is contented since she has plenty of time to spend on them.

A 74-year-old said he was not counting on his children to help even in emergencies since they live thousands of miles away. He is banking on the neighbours or concerned relatives for immediate help during such times. He said the availability of such help depends on the cordiality we maintain with relatives and neighbours. He has achieved this by maintaining regular contact with them and volunteering to help them whenever they needed his assistance.

A couple who are in a senior citizens’ home said they are happy to have such an arrangement as all their basic needs, such as food, medical facilities, shelter and security, are available on the campus. For the childless or those without relatives, even terminal illness and last rites are taken care of. Hence they have no fear about their last days. The belief that they will not die in loneliness as an orphan in an empty house or will not be murdered by some stranger, gives them mental peace. They are happy to feel the proximity of so many aged persons with common problems and needs and have developed friendship with like-minded inmates of the home. They enjoy companionship to the full and are thus saved from any depression caused by loneliness.

Another living-alone woman who is 66, manages her food requirements through catering. She is happy about this arrangement because she is totally free from kitchen management tasks after nearly four decades. The time thus saved is used to satisfy the needs of her creative mind, which were totally discarded during her productive age due to heavy family responsibilities. At present, she is into counselling cancer patients, painting and teaching music. She trains some neighbourhood children in the fine arts. The feeling that she is fulfilling her heart’s desires and spending time usefully gives her satisfaction. The word “boredom” is not in her dictionary anymore.

Another man, who is 83, will make anyone wonder how he had opted to live alone at his age in an apartment. He says it is no big deal because he has good neighbours and relatives who check on his well-being now and then. His food requirements are taken care of by a caterer and the household work by a maid. He says books, television, music records, smartphone and computer, and his passion for crossword puzzles, occupy him without boredom. In addition, he is a news addict and the 24x7 news channels engage him mainly. It is life without responsibilities after a few decades of hectic family and professional responsibilities, and he is now living without racing against time, no more a sleep or leisure-deprived person. He considers the prevailing peace in his life and the calm of mind as gifts of god.

The super-seniors (those above 80) struggle to manage their homes because of physical inability and failing memory. During their productive life their personal needs were totally taken care of by their wives and outside work by the husbands. Such seniors who have lost their life-partners are not frustrated over their present condition and make use of assisted-living facilities or engage home nurses. They use their leisure hours in various types of community activities despite health problems. Through membership in walkers’ clubs or humour clubs or senior associations they make newer friends and even undertake pleasure trips, and through them get assistance during emergencies.

Interaction with living-alone seniors reveals that today they are smarter in self-management skills and have risen above depression caused by the empty nest syndrome and geriatric and gerontology problems. They know how to empower themselves by renewing their driving licences, using laptops and smartphones. To drive away idleness some of them have taken up second careers or got involved in community welfare activities. They seem to enjoy their independence. They seem to live with the philosophy that “what cannot be cured has to be endured”.

That means they have understood the concepts and techniques of “active aging” or “healthy aging”, which is possible only through positive thinking. Such seniors are role models to the younger generation.

The prolonged life expectancy, a burden or blessing to the poor senior citizens of India?

            my article published in Woman's Era  august 1st week edition      

The new India is obsessed with youth power and refuses to recognize the problems of the rapidly growing elderly population.

 India, at present has 81 million elders (60+) i.e., 7.7% of the total population and it is projected that by 2050, quarter of the population will be elders. 78% live in the villages and they are very poor. We should not forget that in India 33% of the population lives below poverty line. Therefore, the poor senior's number is 23 millions Mathew Cherian, chief executive of Help Age India, said, "Seven out of 10 elderly people in India are below the poverty line but just 10 percent of our elderly are getting pension,” - Voicing equal concern, former Chief Election Commissioner M.S. Gill said, “Something is being done, but very little.” He said, "The problems concerning the elderly were very different in urban and rural India, and the issue should be tackled accordingly".

In the urban India, loneliness is the main problem to the seniors due to empty nest syndrome. But the lonely seniors can cope up with the problem of loneliness with facilities they can arrange with help of their regular income like pension since many of them have retired from organised sector or get second carriers or join paid senior citizens homes. Their children are better off with good employment status and hence do not consider parents as financial burden. . But rural poor seniors face serious problems

Through out their life most of the rural senior citizens have worked in the unorganized sectors. They have no pension, savings, or assets and hence 50% of them are fully dependent and 20% partially.  Their  family members are also poor and in debt  due to deterioration in the agricultural sector and hence care of the elders become a burden, resulting in neglect and abuse and abandonment  .Hence even in the ripe old age they are forced to work.  The widowed senior's position is very pathetic. Unable to work, they are mostly abused by the daughter in laws. Most of them undergo semi starvation and suffer due to mal nutrition based deceases and there is no timely medical care. The pension given to the poor seniors by the central and state government together at present is only   Rs 400 and highly inadequate to their needs under the present inflation level. . It is not easy to get this pension and hence they have bribe on the middlemen, pay commission to postmen every month ... Recently we have read reports of postmen's involvement in exploiting the poor seniors in Tamil Nadu . Sometimes their own kith and kin compulsorily snatch this money to meet their family's emergency needs. Rural clinics do not have geriatricians to attend to their age related problems and therefore, they rot with prolonged illness. The senior citizens homes and geriatric care are totally nil in the rural areas

The children of modern India do not treat all the seniors with dignity. India's traditions of respect to elders and dignified treatment to them have disappeared along with e breakdown of the joint family system. When they are not productive any more, they are abused by their own kith and kin, .Abuse may be physical, and mental and continuous abuse results in psychological trauma that drives them to depression or suicide or to come out of their homes and wander in the streets as destitute or beggars or as mentally unbalanced persons. Thousands of seniors who are driven away from home wander in the Indian states in this manner. . Under such circumstances, they come to the conclusion that the prolonged life is not blessing but a curse.

There has been limited research into the nature and extent of elder abuse and it is often argued that the absence of such data is a reflection of the low priority given to the needs of the senior citizens in this country. Mr. Pran Nath Malik, a retired government servant tells that in Himachal Pradesh, "The population of old people are tens of millions. As about half of the total population is living below the poverty line, the assistance provided by the government is negligible. Social and religious organizations also are not doing much. We can see many elderly living as beggars in the big cities. Many die of hunger." hence that state was the first state to introduce the maintenance of old persons Act in 1996 itself. At that time many were wondering what is the need for such an Act in a country like India with it's tradition of venerating elders.

But, the government of India was forced to introduce The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act in 2007 which makes the neglect of parents a cognizable offence. In other words through this Act the government tell the children" look after your parents or go to jail". This Act grants the elders the right to get maintenance by moving the tribunal constituted under the law. But how many of the poor rural elders are aware of the passage, provisions and the recourse to this law? Will this act help the poor seniors when their children themselves are having hand to mouth existance? Since the passage of the law only 7 cases were filed under this law either because, the  parents do not  like their children to go to jail  or they are not aware of the passage of this   law or they are afraid they might be driven out of their homes if the seek justice through this law.

Experts on the care of the elderly present various suggestions

  Counseling is needed for the poor families on the care of the elders and extended support facilities to help them to bear the burden of the elders.

  More number of free senior citizens homes in the rural areas.

  Arrangements for mobile clinics to attend to the disabled and chronically or terminally ill elders.

  Pension for the poor elders should be raised at least to Rs 1000 and easily it should be made available to the poor seniors

  Strict supervision over the running of free senior citizen homes.

  Alzheimer should be included in mentally ill diseases group in the census.

  Welfare measures should include nutritious food medical and insurance facilities.  Social security has to be integrated with anti-poverty programmes.

  It is also important to provide financial support to low income family groups having one or more elderly

Persons. . 

  Taking social, economic and cultural changes into consideration there is a need to effectively solve the emerging problems of the elderly.  There is a need to pay greater attention to the increasing awareness on the ageing issues and its socio-economic effects

  . A national level elder's help line is also an immediate need.

  The government can provide free land to the NGOs taking care of the elders and every senior citizen home should have the service of a gerontologist or geriatrician as a consultant.

  It is not necessary that only the government should take care of the elders. The well off sections can also donate liberally or offer sponsorship for few poor elders and the income tax exemption for such donations can be enhanced.

  The corporate social responsibility can also be extended to the care of the poor elders and they can participate with the government in establishing a number of free old age homes covering the entire country, because it is a gigantic task in which private public partnership is needed.

  The schools and colleges should  sensitise the student's community on the need to treat the seniors with love care on the World Abuse Awareness Day, i.e. June !5th ,

The problems concerning the elderly are serious in nature. The number is growing and hence a separate ministry might be needed to tackle   these problems in an efficient manner, if the elders have to spend their sunset years peacefully. After all ,they have contributed to the nation and to their families through out their productive life through their hard work .They should not be forced  to consider their prolonged life as a burden , but, as a blessing since through their prolonged life, they get an opportunity  to use their wisdom and experience for the betterment of the society.

Now, in a landmark judgment, the Supreme Court on Friday recognised that a terminally ill patient can write a "living will" that permits doctors to withdraw life support, saying a person with no will to live shouldn't suffer in a comatose state. Vice president of Confederation of Medical Associations in Asia and Oceania, and former IMA president Dr K.K. Aggarwal, said strict guidelines should be put in place to ensure that there is no abuse of the ‘living will’ by relatives of the senior patients.

The caregiver of senior citizens may get fed up and frustrated, and unconsciously may make the patient feel that he or she has become a burden and should not live anymore, he said, adding, “This is one aspect which we need to focus on. When a person seeks (passive) euthanasia, the attitude of the relatives providing care should be considered and opinion of doctors should be taken.” Senior Kerala priests said the Supreme Court judgment also fear that the judgment could be misused

The quality of college teachers- A critical factor in the higher education reform process

                 My article published in Alive magazine (a Delhi press publication  in feb 2018)  

According to a report by ASSOCHAM, Indian students going abroad for higher studies cost a foreign exchange outflow of $10 billion annually, an amount sufficient to open 20 engineering and management colleges   in India. Over US$ 13 billion is spent every year by about 450,000 Indian students enrolled in higher education abroad. Why do they go? It is not only for jobs abroad, but also mainly for international environment, better research amenities, flexibility in choice of subjects and wider choice of courses, practical oriented learning methods, high quality of faculty and the state of the art facilities. These are missing in many colleges in India.’ Almost two-third of our universities and 90% of our colleges are rated as below average on quality parameters,” Prime Minister Singh once revealed.

A vital indicator to ascertain the global standard of the universities in any country is the number of foreign students enrolled in them and their position in the international ranking. China has emerged as the number-one choice for students who want to study in Asia. Beijing University has emerged as one of the top 20 universities in the world. It is a sad commentary on our higher education sector that  the  recent evaluation of universities and research institutes all over the world, conducted by a Shanghai university, has not a single Indian University is  in the world's top 300 . However,   China has six.

The HRD ministry is worried about the dissatisfactory quality of our colleges and hence has introduced   series of reforms with the guidance of the Knowledge Commission .The   introduction of all the sophisticated western tools of higher education,    the establishment of additional regulatory bodies and   higher the flow of fund to this sector have not yielded the expected results. The corporate employers say 65% of the engineering  graduates are unemployable, because, there is huge gap between what is expected from the employees   and what they are capable of contributing to the productivity of the unit .

A critical factor in the reform process is the quality of the faculty. The government is not blind to the  need to improve the quality of the college teachers and taken many measures, such as increasing the salary of the teachers through the  6th pay commission , so that teaching  becomes  attractive to brilliant minds , strict provisions for recruitment,   orientation and refresher courses, academic freedom in restructuring of the syllabi, academic auditing, Performance Based Assessment System (PBAS) and the pass in the eligibility tests etc.,   have been introduced to improve faculty quality.  UGC has sent the  PBAS proforma to all varsities which will also be free to devise their own PBAS based on it. Teachers will be able to offer themselves for assessment for promotion once they fulfill minimum API scores. They will also be able to get increments to the tune of 3 per cent of the Academic Grade Pay (AGP) -- as outlined under the Sixth Pay Commission. the UGC’s academic performance indicator is crudely is considered as designed and childish. It is a mockery of the evaluation system. Under this, even a mediocre academician can produce a ‘brilliant academic record’ based on books published, papers presented, scholarly articles published, workshops and seminars attended and research activities. The extent of ghost writing, plagiarism and hyping of ordinary academic events in preparing the self-appraisal sheet is no secret. Autonomous status has only helped college teachers excel in ‘window dressing’ methods. State governments have also been asked to amend their relevant Acts within six months to enable implementation of these regulations. Lot of changes has come into the recruitment process too. Yet the result is not as per the expectations.

The expectations of the students and the administrators regarding teacher’s performance are very high. The teachers are expected to be the  reservoir of knowledge in there respective subjects by constantly upgrading their knowledge through various sources,   use latest pedagogic method than relying on uninspiring rhetoric, show interest in molding the personality of the students  through encouragement for  co curricular and extra curricular activities, create a vibrant class room atmosphere through participative learning method than teacher centric method, encourage original contribution by students and thereby kindle logical reasoning, analytical skills, and enquiring mind  and  inculcate reading habit among them . The students want the teachers to be their friends, philosophers, guides and role models .They want them to provide them carrier counseling too, through guidance on additional skill requirements. The students feel such teachers only will make their college education productive and prepare them for the competitive job market.  

 However, the ground realty is very different. Higher percentage of the college teachers does not possess these skills or the interest to engage themselves with these roles.  The orientation and refresher courses, the eligibility test like NET and SLET, PhD degree, and participation in seminars do not guarantee quality enhancement of the teachers. How many of the teachers have chosen teaching due to aptitude for it and relish the idea of accountability? Is not window dressing adopted on a large scale for better grade in self-appraisal and accreditation procedures? How many of the teachers are using   the treasure of knowledge available in the internet to provide latest information to the student and engaged in presenting   papers to the journals of international standard? Do they give   practical orientation to their theoretical presentation? What care is given to test the communication skill, aptitude for innovative teaching methods while recruiting teachers? It would be disastrous if we appointed anyone who just came along and if corruption plays a role in the recruitment of teachers.

“A bad teacher is like a time bomb, because they would only continue to generate sub-standard students for decades”. No responsible administration should tolerate this situation. Teachers are the main link in the educational reform process. They are the field workers and have direct contact with students. Nobility is still attached to their profession and they are in charge of molding the character and knowledge level of the youthful population. There is no use of having major share of youthful population if they are not trained according to the requirements of the economy  

The teachers should remember that the born teacher concept is outdated. An ordinary teacher can become an excellent teacher and then turn into an out standing teacher with dedication towards their profession. Teachers forever should be learners and impart that knowledge gained to the students with clarity and thought provoking manner. Original contribution by students should be recognized and encouraged. More concentration is needed on participative learning process.  The teachers should talk to the students about the changing world scenario in economic, political, and social matters.

The following measures might help in improving the quality of the teachers.

·         The introduction of some mechanism through which teachers performance appraisal done efficiently and accountability established.

·         The syllabus, which is not industry-friendly currently, should be modified. The teachers and industry associations like CII, FICCI should interact and find out what is missing in the syllabus. Nomination of industry representatives in the board of studies should not be a window dressing exercise.

·         Many supervisory bodies like AICTE unwisely assume that once a teacher completes Ph D, he / she automatically becomes an expert teacher. In reality, there is no direct correlation between research and teaching ability.  This point should be noted while further reforms are introduced.  

·         Even the refreshers courses and orientation courses cannot achieve their purpose unless the concentration is on the latest pedagogic methods than on monotonous guest lectures.

·         The government should rethink on the utility of the eligibility tests in assessing efficiency of the teachers. The best thing to do is to assess the teacher’s quality at periodic intervals. If the assessment reveals poor quality, performance counseling should be given, grace period for betterment allotted and suitable action taken after the next assessment if the same position continues.

·         The teacher student ratio also should be regularised .

·         Excellent   teachers with passion for teaching do not stay in private colleges since, the gap between the salary at the entry level and at senior level in the salary paid is too much between the private and government and aided college teachers . This factor act as non motivation factor  towards staying on teaching job . Since  the private colleges salary is very low , it has become a lender of the last resort in the job market and non interested and low quality teachers only stay for a long time and the best ones opt for better paying jobs. It is a major problem standing in the way of attracting high quality teachers . such disparity in the pay scales should be rectified to retain the best teachers 

The teachers would say that with autonomy, their work burden has multiplied due to the need to create and   maintain innumerable records to please the regulatory and inspecting bodies, which have multiplied, and their energy is spent more on non-academic matters. Even the recent performance assessment system is going to result in creation and maintenance of innumerable records and that will further cut down their concentration on classroom activities, where the students are waiting with altogether different type of expectations. The   teachers form the final link in the hierarchy of the higher education and they are the field workers. They feel that sweeping reforms are introduced in the higher education sector, without involving the teachers in the decision making process. Unless the grievances of the industry, teachers and the students are addressed, the goal of attaining global competency in higher education cannot be achieved.