Old age is undesirable everywhere in the world for the simple reasons that at this time of life human beings have less stamina and more diseases and their capacities to earn a livelihood through physical work dwindle down a great deal . Thus, old age cannot be welcome to most people as this is the period of life when they turn into dependents.
This dependency is almost unavoidable and the old ones need care either the family level or the institutional one. In our context, there are wealthy pensioners and others to be noted who have accumulated riches throughout their lifetime of work before retirement. They may have luxurious homes, strong financial supports from their own sound financial planning during their younger years, and even efficient attendants.
But even to such an old but wealthy person, old life can turn out to be relatively a cold and uncaring existence.
For example, say, we have a male retired person in his seventies. His wife may have died and his children could be living in foreign countries. They may occasionally come home to stay with him briefly or give him a telephone call on occasions. But that person would still be leading essentially a very lonely life with mechanical assistance from his well paid attendants. But this paid assistance cannot substitute for a caring daughter-in-law or his son staying with him and looking after him regularly.
The state of the old in the greater or wider context of Bangladesh would seem to be under a threat from various reasons. The first and foremost one seems to be the unfortunate breakdown of family relationships. Clearly, among different classes in Bangladeshi society, the idea of the family is not what it used to be.
Traditionally, we were blessed by joint families meaning that families were not single ones but several within one. For example, a father with grown ups sons would marry off the latter. The sons and their family members lived with their father and mother. Sometimes even the daughters and their families were seen as part of such a greater joint family.
Such families shared their resources, their joys and their sorrows. There were advantages as well as disadvantages in such families like in every facet of human existence. But a major positive aspect of such joint families was that its old members were at least reasonably looked after by its young and active members both as a matter of morals but also out of respect and recognition of the old towards the families.
The joint family has been under an attack ever since urbanization In Bangladesh, a meager proportion of the old age persons are protected by old age security or pensions (those who were in government, semi-government, autonomous body, and large-scale private sector/ non-governmental formal institutions). They are the privileged ones.
Most of the rest of the old people are forced to continue doing physically demanding heavy and hard work well beyond the age of 60. It is therefore, in Bangladesh, people in old age, in general, are insecure, and those in poverty are more insecure and excluded – economically, socially and physically.
The absolute (physical number of older people in the country was 7.6 million in 2001 (6.2% of total population) up from 5.6million in 1991 (5.3% of the total population). It is projected that by 2025, the same will rise to about 14.6 million persons (around 9% of the total population).
There are about 12,000 NGOs working in Bangladesh. A very few of them have programmers directed towards old age population. Access to micro-credit and low interest loans from NGOs and government programmes along with other economic opportunities are almost universally denied to older people in Bangladesh because of explicit age barriers, lack of training, skills or confidence.
Old women seem never to retire from their works. Unpaid domestic work goes on. Being the 'poorest of poor’ an old poor woman becomes the most 'unfortunate burden' of the family and society.
Boishka Bhata (old age pension scheme) amounting Tk.100/ (around US $ 2.00) per month is given to extremely destitute older persons in the rural areas. In 2002-03, the amount per older person per month was increased to Tk.125/- (US $ 2.15) with an increased coverage of up to half a million older people. During the financial year 2003-04, the amount was increased further to Tk. 150/- (US $ 2.58) per month with a planned increase in coverage of up to 1 million older people (around 14% of all older people in the country).
Recently, the Boishka Bhata has climbed up to taka 300 per months which is still a pittance. Consider how a non working or unable to work poor and elderly person can meet his or her basic subsistence needs with such a small amount of money. The government of Bangladesh (GOB) certainly can spare resources to increase the allowance to say, at least Taka 2,000 or Taka 1,500 a month which would be realistic to provide some sustenance to these poor and old people. It is inconceivable that GOB does not have money to pay this higher amount progressively to about 4 or 5 million poor and utterly dependent old people in the country.
The writer is a free lance journalist and researcher
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Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.
Editor : M. Shamsur Rahman
Published by the Editor on behalf of Independent Publications Limited at Media Printers, 446/H, Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1215.
Editorial, News & Commercial Offices : Beximco Media Complex, 149-150 Tejgaon I/A, Dhaka-1208, Bangladesh. GPO Box No. 934, Dhaka-1000.