UNB, Dhaka :
Despite formulation of the National Policy on Older Persons in 2013 followed by work plans to provide necessary facilities for senior citizens and ensure their rights, there is no progress in sight to this end so far due to bureaucratic complications.
Another law, the Parents’ Maintenance Act-2013, was enacted to ensure elderly parents’ rights and their welfare, and this too has seen little implementation. The necessity of such a law was felt when a 70- year-old woman, Jahurul Nesa, was beaten up by her son on a street in public over a land dispute at Alipur in Faridpur district town last week.
Experts and rights activists said many elderly people like Jahurun Nesa are being subjected to humiliation and torture, but they do not take the
issue to police out of affection for their children and in fear of social stigma. “I think the rights of elderly people are hardly taken care of though these senior citizens made tremendous contributions to the country and society during their young time. They deserve a greater attention and care both from the state and society,” said National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman Kazi Rezaul Hoque.
Amid such a dismal scenario, the International Day of Older Persons will be observed on Saturday (Oct 1) in the country with the theme ‘Take a stand against ageism’. Social Welfare deputy secretary Niranjan Debnath said there are 1.30 core older people of above 60 years of age in the country.
Of them, he said, 31.5 lakh are getting Tk 500 each month as old age allowance, and the number of the allowance recipients will gradually be increased. Niranjan said the ministry also formulated a work plan last year in the light of the National Policy on Older Persons to provide the senior citizens with various facilities, including ID cards, health cards, and reserved seats and tickets at reduced rates during their travel in buses, trains, steamers, health access vouchers, saving schemes, accommodation.
Asked how much progress they have made in implementing the work plan, he said their ministry has given letters to all the ministries concerned and it will gradually be implemented.
In his research, Sazzadul Alam, a teacher of Jahangirnagar University Anthropology Department, identified 12 types of vulnerabilities- lack of social dignity, economic crisis, accommodation problem, illness, falling health, physical assault, mobility problem, emotional vulnerability, recreation problem, family burden, far from relatives and food crisis-that are faced by the elderly people in Bangladesh.
Sazzad who conducted research as a Brac consultant and completed it on December 31, 2015, said the elderly people are getting isolated or alienated from their family members and, as a result, they live alone and face the problems on their own. He said the elderly population needs economic support, including food, clothing, medical care, and housing as well as cultural one.
Besides government initiatives, Sazzad said, NGOs should give a serious attention to the older person’s issue.
NHRC chairman Rezaul Hoque said elderly people, especially women, are very vulnerable group in the country. “We need to give much focus on how to protect this vast number of vulnerable people and ensure their rights.” He lamented that the National Policy on Older Persons Parents’ is not implemented due to bureaucratic tangle while the Maintenance Act-2013 for lack of its rules and regulation and mass awareness.
Rezaul Hoque said elderly people are hugely being subjected to various repressions by their children and others. “We’ve decided that if we get information by any means about the repression on older persons, we’ll look into the incidents on our own initiatives and take proper lawful action.”
The NHRC chief said he has already instructed his office to look into the incident of beating the elderly mother by her son in Faridpur and take proper action. He called upon all, including private sectors, the affluent section of society, to come forward alongside the government to ensure alderperson’s rights and welfare.
Probin Hitoishi Snangha secretary general Dr A S M Atiqur Rahman said the country’s media, NGOs, socio-cultural groups and the education system have no focus on elderly people’s issues.
He said, there are many corporate bodies in the country that hardly play any role in welfare of the older people. “They spend their CSR funds for development of sports, but they don’t want to use it for the welfare of older people like other countries.” Prof Atiqur Rahman of Dhaka University’s Social Welfare department said the Social Welfare Ministry along with experts and relevant stakeholders drafted Older Person Development Foundation Act and shared it with other ministries concerned for finalising it. “But, most ministries still did not respond to it.”
The DU professor suggested launching vigorous campaigns for getting people ready for their old age, ensuring accommodation for ultra-elderly people, increasing research works on them and introducing universal insurance scheme for the people of 30 years of age.
Despite formulation of the National Policy on Older Persons in 2013 followed by work plans to provide necessary facilities for senior citizens and ensure their rights, there is no progress in sight to this end so far due to bureaucratic complications.
Another law, the Parents’ Maintenance Act-2013, was enacted to ensure elderly parents’ rights and their welfare, and this too has seen little implementation. The necessity of such a law was felt when a 70- year-old woman, Jahurul Nesa, was beaten up by her son on a street in public over a land dispute at Alipur in Faridpur district town last week.
Experts and rights activists said many elderly people like Jahurun Nesa are being subjected to humiliation and torture, but they do not take the
issue to police out of affection for their children and in fear of social stigma. “I think the rights of elderly people are hardly taken care of though these senior citizens made tremendous contributions to the country and society during their young time. They deserve a greater attention and care both from the state and society,” said National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) chairman Kazi Rezaul Hoque.
Amid such a dismal scenario, the International Day of Older Persons will be observed on Saturday (Oct 1) in the country with the theme ‘Take a stand against ageism’. Social Welfare deputy secretary Niranjan Debnath said there are 1.30 core older people of above 60 years of age in the country.
Of them, he said, 31.5 lakh are getting Tk 500 each month as old age allowance, and the number of the allowance recipients will gradually be increased. Niranjan said the ministry also formulated a work plan last year in the light of the National Policy on Older Persons to provide the senior citizens with various facilities, including ID cards, health cards, and reserved seats and tickets at reduced rates during their travel in buses, trains, steamers, health access vouchers, saving schemes, accommodation.
Asked how much progress they have made in implementing the work plan, he said their ministry has given letters to all the ministries concerned and it will gradually be implemented.
In his research, Sazzadul Alam, a teacher of Jahangirnagar University Anthropology Department, identified 12 types of vulnerabilities- lack of social dignity, economic crisis, accommodation problem, illness, falling health, physical assault, mobility problem, emotional vulnerability, recreation problem, family burden, far from relatives and food crisis-that are faced by the elderly people in Bangladesh.
Sazzad who conducted research as a Brac consultant and completed it on December 31, 2015, said the elderly people are getting isolated or alienated from their family members and, as a result, they live alone and face the problems on their own. He said the elderly population needs economic support, including food, clothing, medical care, and housing as well as cultural one.
Besides government initiatives, Sazzad said, NGOs should give a serious attention to the older person’s issue.
NHRC chairman Rezaul Hoque said elderly people, especially women, are very vulnerable group in the country. “We need to give much focus on how to protect this vast number of vulnerable people and ensure their rights.” He lamented that the National Policy on Older Persons Parents’ is not implemented due to bureaucratic tangle while the Maintenance Act-2013 for lack of its rules and regulation and mass awareness.
Rezaul Hoque said elderly people are hugely being subjected to various repressions by their children and others. “We’ve decided that if we get information by any means about the repression on older persons, we’ll look into the incidents on our own initiatives and take proper lawful action.”
The NHRC chief said he has already instructed his office to look into the incident of beating the elderly mother by her son in Faridpur and take proper action. He called upon all, including private sectors, the affluent section of society, to come forward alongside the government to ensure alderperson’s rights and welfare.
Probin Hitoishi Snangha secretary general Dr A S M Atiqur Rahman said the country’s media, NGOs, socio-cultural groups and the education system have no focus on elderly people’s issues.
He said, there are many corporate bodies in the country that hardly play any role in welfare of the older people. “They spend their CSR funds for development of sports, but they don’t want to use it for the welfare of older people like other countries.” Prof Atiqur Rahman of Dhaka University’s Social Welfare department said the Social Welfare Ministry along with experts and relevant stakeholders drafted Older Person Development Foundation Act and shared it with other ministries concerned for finalising it. “But, most ministries still did not respond to it.”
The DU professor suggested launching vigorous campaigns for getting people ready for their old age, ensuring accommodation for ultra-elderly people, increasing research works on them and introducing universal insurance scheme for the people of 30 years of age.
