The Kozhikode Corporation’s ‘Vayojanotsavam’, a festival for senior citizens, which was postponed due to the Nipah scare, will be held from November 10 to 15. The festival, the main component of which is a national seminar on various issues concerning the elderly, is being held as part of efforts to transform Kozhikode into an elderly-friendly city.
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Mayor Beena Philip told reporters here on Tuesday that writer M.T. Vasudevan Nair would inaugurate the festival at 4 p.m. at Freedom Square on the Kozhikode Beach on Friday. The inaugural session will be followed by ‘Seniors on Runway’, a fashion show featuring senior citizens. The show is being facilitated by students of the Centre for Costume and Fashion Technology. A get-together featuring around 10,000 elderly people is also planned on the day. Meanwhile, a senior citizens’ arts festival will be held parallel to the seminar at a nearby venue.
The national seminar will be held in 13 sessions on various subjects over the next five days. The subjects include legal aid, health facilities in the city, social welfare schemes, government programmes and palliative care for the elderly, society-centric treatment for dementia, ‘how to get old in a healthy manner’, possibilities in Ayurveda for the health of senior citizens, and novel technologies to make homes elderly friendly. There will also be discussions on the concept of elderly friendly city, its possibilities, limitations, challenges, role of local bodies in it, and the role of media.
The seminar will have the participation of Vice Chancellor of Calicut University M.K. Jayaraj, Jagadeeshan C.K, former Additional Director, Department of Health; Joy Elamon, Director, KILA; Asharaf Kavil, Assistant Director, Social Justice Department; A. Umesh, Assistant Commissioner of Police; T.M. Thomas Isaac, former Finance Minister; Thottathil Raveendran, MLA; Shaji K.S., Dean, Kerala University of Health Sciences, and former MP Sebastian Paul.
Deputy Mayor C.P. Musafar Ahamed said the seminar would culminate in a ‘Kozhikode Declaration’ that would be forwarded to the Central and State governments for further action.