Q: Is 'ageing an emerging issue in Indian society ? Discuss the major problems of the old age people in India.

Model Answer:

India’s changing population dynamics can be understood through the Demographic Transition Theory. A shift from high fertility and mortality to low fertility and increased life expectancy has led to the “greying of the population.” With the elderly population projected at roughly 138 million in 2021, sociologist S. Irudaya Rajan notes that this demographic shift makes ageing a critical structural issue.

Sociological Dimensions of Ageing in India

Shifting Authority: S.C. Dube observes a transition from a traditional gerontocracy—where elders held ultimate economic and moral authority—to a modern structure where economic power favors the urban-migrating youth.

Kinship Transformation: A.M. Shah challenges the simplistic “breakdown of the joint family” thesis. He notes the rise of “modified extended families” where emotional ties exist despite physical distance, though this still leaves elders vulnerable to isolation.

Major Problems of the Elderly

Structural Rolelessness: Applying Talcott Parsons’ Disengagement Theory, modern society structurally strips elders of traditional decision-making roles, leading to a loss of status. From a Marxist perspective, capitalist markets marginalize them as “unproductive labor.”

The Feminization of Ageing: Leela Gulati highlights that elderly women face double marginalization due to patriarchal deprivation of property rights, longer life expectancy, and the social stigma of widowhood.

Intersectional Inequalities: Ageing is not a uniform experience. While urban upper-class elders primarily suffer from social isolation, rural Dalit elders often face acute material deprivation, forced into physical labor until death.

Crisis of Care: The modern Sandwich Generation is caught between hyper-competitive capitalist demands and eldercare, straining Intergenerational Solidarity and increasing instances of elder neglect.

The recent LASI (Longitudinal Ageing Study in India) report empirically validates these challenges, revealing high chronic morbidities and a severe lack of social security among the elderly. Furthermore, India’s rapid digitization (e.g., cashless economies, digital healthcare) has created a sharp Digital Divide, structurally alienating older generations.

Conclusion

Addressing population ageing requires moving away from viewing the elderly as a “dependent burden” to recognizing them as a resource in the “Silver Economy.” India must synthesize traditional values of filial piety with robust state-backed institutional support to ensure dignified ageing.