Kerala to form Senior Citizens' Commission, ordinance to be issued soon

Kerala will promulgate an ordinance to form the Kerala State Senior Citizens' Commission. The decision was taken at the Cabinet meeting on Wednesday and announced by higher education-social justice minister R Bindu.

"The ordinance will be promulgated to urgently address the growing concerns of senior citizens, including neglect, exploitation and abandonment, and also to put in place the framework necessary for the creation of the Commission," the minister told reporters on Wednesday.

The basic objective of the Commission is to issue guidelines for the welfare and security of senior citizens. The functions of the Commission are: one, rehabilitate senior citizens whenever there is a need; two, provide them legal assistance; three, devise schemes to tap the experience and talents of senior citizens for the common public good; and four, take up the various responsibilities the state government hands over to it in future.

The decisions taken by the Commission can be forwarded to the state government for further action. If there is a dispute, too, the Commission can forward its findings to the government.

The Commission will have a chairman and a maximum of three members. All the members of the Commission, including the chairperson, will be senior citizens. One of the members should be either from the Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe community. Another should be a female. The chairperson will be a full-time member with the powers and authority of a government secretary. Their tenure will be three years from the date of assuming office.
An officer not below the rank of additional secretary will be the secretary of the Commission.

Status of elderly in Kerala
An increasing trend is observed in the old-age dependency ratio. Nationally, the ratio has increased from 14.2 per cent in 2011 to 15.7 per cent in 2021

and is projected to be 20.1 per cent in 2031. However, Kerala's old-age dependency ratio (OADR) was 19.6 per cent as per the 2011 Census and is projected to be 34.3% in 2031.

Kerala has the highest percentage of elderly population in the country (12.55 per cent as per the 2011 census; the national average is 8.6 per cent). The annual growth rate of the elderly population is projected to be 3.28 per cent at the national level, whereas it is 3.96 per cent for Kerala. One of the major challenges faced by the elderly population is the lack of social support as age advances.