In a long and continuous struggle with human nature, as a result of continuous development in the natural sciences and especially in the health sciences in the process of overcoming the natural forces, the human life rate is much higher than in the past has increased. Many diseases have been completely eradicated, resulting in a steady increase in the life expectancy of human beings with a reduction in the death rate. Survival rates among those over 70 have risen by 18 per cent, but at the same time, the sad picture is that living standards are declining instead of rising. Looking around us, we see that despite the tremendous advances in science and technology, a large portion of our population is forced to live a life of poverty, starvation, unemployment, etc. By the way, young people constitute a large part of the population in our country, and their problems like education, employment, etc. are also very serious. Just a cursory glance at the facts reveals a grim picture of a population languishing in ‘dependence on old age’. According to a report, the old age dependency rate, which was 10.9 per cent in 1961, increased to 14.2 per cent in 2011. According to the 2011 census, India has a population of more than 100 million people over the age of 60, which constitutes more than 9 per cent of the total population and this age group is expected to reach 19 per cent of the total population by 2050. Is 60 per cent of the elderly living in families face abuse. This abuse comes in many forms. They are abused in many ways through physical torture, mental torture, psychological torture, etc., examples of which we hear daily around us or in the news about how to be imprisoned in their homes and be treated like a prisoner every day. They are threatened with eviction if they refuse to work, are left in old age homes, and are subjected to physical abuse. Of these victims, 37 per cent are abused on a daily basis at home, 20 per cent have to live like prisoners, 13 per cent have to endure mental abuse, abuse etc. 9 per cent have to endure beatings and other physical abuse. Remaining 8 per cent suffer a variety of insults, with cases of looting being common with elderly people living alone at home. According to a report by the Age-well Foundation, 65 per cent of the population is poor who have no source of income and the rest, despite their good economic status, are abused in one way or another. About 40 per cent) are forced to live in inhumane conditions, meaning that this part of the population is completely socially insecure, or in fact our current society is incapable of protecting them. Then there are the old capitalist cultural values that pervade our families or the masses that ignore the elderly. The fact is that the present governments (whoever they may be) are always planning to prolong the life of the capitalist system that sucks the blood of the people. It is not that they lack the resources or money to provide a secure life to the people, but they spend billions of rupees in a matter of minutes and seconds to save a handful of investors from displacement. It is a far cry to live an honorable life on its head. According to Help-Age India, as they are not part of any productive activity, governments do not take care of them and hold families responsible for their care. According to a 2013 report by Help Age India – Research and Development Journal, all senior citizens in India need only 1.8 per cent of GDP to receive a pension of just Rs 2,000 per month. And don’t want to spend on the other hand big bailout packages are given. These public policies are not only not enough to provide financial security to the elderly but also to aging diseases, shortage of medicines, lack of essential nutrients etc. There are many problems for which governments have no concrete policy. There is a dearth of better facilities for the elderly in homes and in old age homes. There is no provision for dealing with criminal activities involving the elderly, especially older women. In fact, it is through these pro-capitalist and anti-people policies that governments are serving these capitalists, and all the bourgeois parties are in a dog race to prove their worth. This is the reason why the public policies formulated by them deliberately ignore this large section of the population. But in the present capitalist system, the mutual relations between the families, apart from any kind of spiritual union, have been reduced to transactions. So to expect any kind of high values from such an institution, even at a time when capitalism has lost its progressive character on all sides, can only be a naive wish. This is the reason why inhumane treatment of elders is becoming a common phenomenon in families. After all, they are facing abusive gossip, reports of children beating their parents are common in the newspapers, 6 out of every 10 elderly couples in India are forced to leave home. It is a different matter that in order to protect the reputation of oneself and one’s family in the society, only 6 out of 1 cases of abuse against the elderly come to light. A chaotic process of swallowing each other is constantly going on in the whole environment, all human beings are enemies of each other; every man who takes part in this dirty fight to fill his own belly thinks only of himself and looks around with a look of suspicion, so that the neighbour does not crush his neck. Trapped in the maelstrom of this tiring beastly battle, the supreme powers of the intellect are lost in defending themselves from others. The vile tendencies of not making up and keeping the old experience locked in the suffocating closets of the basement prevail.
