There Is Strength In Elders Joining Together: Mathew Cherian

Mathew Cherian has been a veteran warrior in age care and development. The CEO of HelpAge till June 2020, he is now the Global Ambassador for HelpAge International. A B.E. (Honours) in Civil Engineering from BITS, Pilani Rajasthan, and a PG Diploma in Rural Management from the first batch of IRMA, he is also an author. Cherian is the Board Chair of CARE India. He currently serves as an Amicus Curiae to the Supreme Court in elder rights, for pensions, homes, and the Maintenance Law, which has helped bring elder issues to the forefront—edited excerpts from an interview on eldercare in India.

What are the critical pillars of age care? 

The first pillar is building up communities of elders. It can be associations or organizations, and it can be any group. There is strength in elders joining together; it is an antidote to loneliness and various other things affecting them. The second pillar is appropriate medical care, which includes all types of medicine. So if somebody is interested in Ayurveda, it can be that or allopathic or even Unani. This also includes assistive technologies, from the simplest walking stick to motorized wheelchairs. The third pillar is enabling livelihoods and financial and digital literacy.

Tell us about your experience of working with elders over these years?

When I started with ageing, it was a relatively unexplored field. Helpage continued to work with rural and poor elders. We started Elders Self Help Groups (ESGs) because we found that during any crisis (The Tsunami, for instance), the elderly were the last to receive relief. So we set up a federation (for the ESGs) that has almost six lakh members now and is independently run. This was for rural elders.

We also started organizing urban elders into senior citizen associations around 2007. It began with middle-class colonies and spread across India. There was a group in Maharashtra called FESCOM doing the same work. So together, we set up an all-India body called AISCCON or The All India Senior Citizens' Confederation. (Note: AISCCON is currently the largest federated body representing nearly five lakh senior citizens.)  

We often read that by 2040 one in four people will be elderly. Can you break it down in simple terms and explain why we must pay attention to this data?

We are at the tip of a longevity revolution. All Indians are expected to live almost to be 90 years. So we have a 20-year extra burden of longevity. In these 20 years, we must have some policy intervention towards this area. Because you will live longer, but you will live unhealthier, and you need to promote active ageing, appropriate medical care, assistive technologies, etc., else old age will be tough. Senior citizen communities and associations are key to longevity and better old age. 

We are now poised at a huge demographic explosion. 

Currently, the number of elderly is 140 million. Imagine a triangle -- at the top of this triangle, there are 10 million elderly who are well off and have assets and liquid cash to care for their needs. And then the next bracket is a group of 30 million who are the middle class. They have financial remittances from children or fixed deposits and some savings in a corpus or mutual funds. Unfortunately, the last few years have been disastrous for them because falling interest rates resulted in their incomes dropping. The rest is 100 million, a segment that is both asset-less and without savings. This includes, at the bottom of this triangle, almost 60 million elders below the poverty line who can only be helped by social security or old age pension, which is currently at a very low level. By 2040, we will exceed the elderly population of China and will be almost 220 million. Our national population would reach about 1.8 billion. So then, we will need more money to look after these 220 million elders, which is where the real crisis is. It will be a difficult situation without adequate medical care and social security. 

How does the Indian middle class prepare for this?

The middle class needs to prepare for ageing from the age of 40. This is because if you are going to live for 90 years, you need a corpus of savings. Unless the retirement age changes, you will live 30 years after retirement. So you need some income for those years. So you need to create a corpus of funds. This 30 billion middle-class population needs to be prepared for the coming longevity because they will have healthcare, and so they will live long. But they may not live properly.

What would be an ideal way to spread financial literacy among people growing older besides media awareness, community-level talks, etc? 

Financial training should start in companies at the age of 40. Then, companies and their human resources departments should organize talks with staff about savings, financial literacy, etc., because it will become a need of the hour. If they don't do it from the age of 40, it will become very difficult to do this at 60. 

What are the barriers to ageing actively in India?

We have made a lot of progress when it comes to facilities. There are separate queues for the elderly and separate counters in many places. But there are still many challenges. Simple things like, you can get wheelchairs in some stations. But not in smaller stations. If you try to travel by train and get down at a small station, even in a state like Kerala, you'll find it very difficult because you will have to jump down three steps. So most of the elderly have to be physically carried and brought down. 

So whether it is disabled-friendly toilets, trains, technology, and communication, we need them to be age-friendly. We need age-friendly mobility, and we also need age-friendly buildings, including in our homes.

In India, there needs to be more culture of building your house for all ages. For instance, in Kerala, prosperity has led to people installing very smooth marble floors, even in the bathrooms. This is not conducive for older people as, culturally, we use a lot of coconut oil, which creates slippery floors in the bathroom. Many older people have died or become immobile due to falls in the bathroom there. These are problems in our architecture. We need to educate and create awareness. 

Are people aware of laws that help the elderly?

No, there is no awareness. Unlike Swach Bharat and other schemes with billboards advertising at almost every nook and corner, there has been no publicity of laws and schemes for elders. For instance, according to the Maintenance Law, every district has to set up a maintenance tribunal. I have noticed that only a few collectors are even aware of the law! In one location, the collector did not know that such a law existed, and he was the one who was supposed to be the chair of the tribunal. In some places, the tribunal office is on the third floor of a government building, and it is very difficult for elders to climb up there. So, these issues show a need for more priority given to elders in India.

What are the key challenges you're seeing and some solutions you could mention?

The key challenge is that we need to create an atmosphere where age-based discrimination is not practised. And secondly, we need to improve our social security system in the country. One good thing is that many players have entered the aged care field, and their numbers are growing. So there is increasing awareness starting now. 

Cover Image courtesy: Akshar Dave/Unsplash

What are your views on how ageing is unfolding in India? Share with us in the comment box below.

Addition: Mathew Cherian spoke to Reshmi Chakraborty