The problem of ageing in rural Bengal
Majumdar, B.
Economic Affairs 29(1): 63-69
1984
ISSN/ISBN: 0265-0665 Document Number: 412334
While the problem of ageing is not yet an acute one in India, where the proportion of the population aged 60+ is only 5.4%, it is likely to increase in future. The country's inadequate social security measures have not yet reached the bulk of elderly people living in the rural areas. The article focuses attention on the rural areas where 80% of the population of West Bengal live and where the percentage of aged people (70+) increased significantly between 1961 and 1971. It is emphasized that there is an urgent need to bring more people into the farmers' pension scheme, which at present applies only to 21 000 elderly people, and also to increase the pension from its present Rs 60.00 per month, which is not sufficient to enable the rural aged to meet their minimum necessities.