Old age is not for ruing one’s inability to do anything, but an opportunity to build a better society with the knowledge and experience gained during one’s lifetime, CPI State secretary Kanam Rajendran has said.
Inaugurating the delegates’ session of the 8th State conference of the Senior Citizens Service Council here on Wednesday, Mr. Rajendran said society was increasingly becoming insensitive to the needs of the elderly. With the rise in nuclear families, the elderly were finding themselves in deep misery, unable to contribute in any manner to society.
According to the UN, countries with 7% of the population above the age of 60 should be treated as ageing countries.
Scene in Kerala
The situation in Kerala was worse than the rest of the country. While those aged above 60 years constituted 8.6% of the national population, their share in the State’s population was a high 12.6%. This called for specific policies targeted at the elderly, he said.
C. Divakaran, MLA, offered felicitations to the session which was chaired by council president N. Ananthakrishnan. The conference, which was inaugurated by former Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan on Monday, would conclude on Thursday.
