Sunday, October 31, 2010

AISCCON Conference - Coverage in Vrindavan Today

Haryana CM Hooda gives 10 lakh donation to AISCCON

by JAGAT on OCTOBER 25, 2010

Post image for Haryana CM Hooda gives 10 lakh donation to AISCCON

Haryana CM Bhupender Singh Hooda concluded his appearance at the AISCCON conference with a surprise announcement of a large personal donation of 10 lakhs to the confederation to help it develop its program.

Hooda said, furthermore, that the Haryana government has undertaken numerous different programs for the benefit of the elderly, through which they can both get self respect and also make a living. "All Indians should be ready to give up their lives for their mothers and the motherland."

He said that the elderly might be physically weak, but their experience and blessings are powerful. We are able to face life's greatest difficulties by making use of their experience. "Those who don't respect the dignity of the elderly can never make progress," he said. "Our forefathers suffered all through their lives and even went to prison so that the light of freedom could shine for us. We must show respect for their heroism."

The local MLA Pradeep Mathur said that old age is that last stage of life, when people are in fact most needed by their families. But due to current conditions they are being left on their own. "The time has come when under the leadership of this institution the elderly throughout the country get organized and become strong so that they can get the respect they deserve."

Confederation director R.N. Mittal said that the life of the elderly is the result of a long struggle, which results in an experience by which society can take direction.

Various lifetime achievement awards and so on were given out. In particular, Vrindavan painter Kanhai Chitrakar and industrialist Suresh Nanda were singled out for awards.

The Congress is the party of economic development

Afterward in a press conference, Hooda said that the Congress is the party of development, whereas the opposition parties are mired in the politics of divisiveness. "They have not been able to digest the success of the Commonwealth Games," he said, "The success of the Games has given the world a new image of India. But the opposition parties are frustrated by this and so have focused exclusively on the loss of hundreds of crores to corruption."

"But people have become fed up with the politics based on religious divisions. What they now want is economic progress. Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan and other states under Congress governments are making great strides economically. The Bihar elections stand to be shock everyone."

Offering his respectful obeisances to the holy land of Vrindavan, he said that Lord Krishna had his pastimes here. Coming here had given him a feeling of otherworldly joy. Earlier in the day, he had gone for darshan of Banke Bihari where temple sevaits Amit and Jugal Goswami engaged him in puja of the Lord. Then he had visited Kanhai Chitrakar's galleryof devotional art on Chatikara Road, where he admired his great talent.

The society's elderly show the way: Guru Sharanananda

Also speaking at the 10th annual AISCCON convention held at Akshaya Patra, on Saturday, Karshni Gurusharanananda Maharaj said that the elderly are our society's capital. "The young must learn the way to live from society's seniors. By following the path that they teach, children will go on to have a bright future. The elderly are not helpless, but have their own strengths. Though their experience and blessings, they educate and refine the young."

He said that those who serve and respect their elders are never unhappy in their lives. We should understand that our elders are a priceless treasure and serve them. This is the teaching of Indian culture.

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http://www.news.vrindavantoday.org/2010/10/gurusharanananda-and-hudda-speak-at-aisccon-conference/

Dr P Vyasamoorthy, 30 Gruhalakshmi Colony Secunderabad 500015 Ph 040-27846631 / 9490804278.
My blog: http://vyasa-kaaranam-ketkadey.blogspot.com/







Saturday, October 30, 2010

Book Review: LinkAge - October 2010 Issue - Special edition on Productive Ageing.

Book Review: LinkAge – October Issue. Special edition on Productive Ageing.

 

This October 2010 issue of LINKAGE – Monthly magazine of Senior Citizens Bureau, Chennai - is a special issue titled:  "Productive Ageing".  It is a 64 pages book containing about 40 articles, both in Tamil and English, mostly sourced from the Internet, Hindu, Dinamalar etc. Some half a dozen articles are exclusively written by members of Bureau and their friends. As usual there is heavy slant towards health and fitness: there are articles on Diabetes, Thyroid Blood Pressure, Physical Fitness, common cold, Backache, cancer etc. Articles relating to senior citizens welfare like Old Age Pensions, National Commission for Senior Citizens, World Elders Day, Suggestions on improving various government concessions / schemes for seniors etc. are also found. There are quite a few poems in Tamil too.   If you are serious here is a list of English language articles:

 

 

No to negative thoughts

Happy and healthy living

Senior citizens welfare scheme

Ageing beautifully & gracefully

Ten benefits of lemon water for health

"every day in every way i am getting better and better"

Govt. Plans panel for elderly

Dealing with depression in seniors

'Kalaivani' **

How to avoid shaky hand writing

Are senior citizens an asset or liability?

DTC and senior citizens

Invictus

Advance of science and technology

Activities report by the secretary general

Senior members - 85 years of age

 

Asterisked story, Kalaivani, is an interesting interview of a book stores girl by a reporter for Washington Post. The journalist was so impressed with the intelligence, duty consciousness and family responsibility of this poor but deserving girl that he volunteered to bear all the expenses of her five poor sisters' education. Very moving story indeed – however, as it is nearly 2 years ago this interview was taken, it would be worthwhile to know how the girl and her family are fairing now. Some SCB member can find out and inform all of us.

 

If you try to find out what "productive ageing" is all about, you will not find a single article in this book. It is only in the title and nowhere else. Anyone ordering the book by reading the title alone will be disappointed. Some other title, justifying the contents, should have been given.

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Dr P Vyasamoorthy, 30 Gruhalakshmi Colony Secunderabad 500015 Ph 040-27846631 / 9490804278.
My blog: http://vyasa-kaaranam-ketkadey.blogspot.com/






Thursday, October 28, 2010

Some notes on 10th Annual AISCCON CONFERENCE

Some Salient points about Tenth Annual Conference of All India Senior Citizens Confederation (AISCCON)  held at Mathura, UP from 21st to 24th October 2010

 

The tenth Annual Conference of All India Senior Citizens Confederation (AISCCON) held in collaboration with the Senior Citizens Welfare Association, Mathura and which recently concluded at Brindaban, UP , was a phenomenal success in many ways.

 

The All India Senior Citizens Confederation (AISCCON) is the largest national organization with a membership base of 7 lakh members from different states and union territories in India. It is head quartered in Navi Mumbai. It is actively engaged in various welfare activities for Senior Citizens and advocacy with authorities on their concerns and problems.

 

 It has been organizing regularly for the past ten years (since 2001) an annual conference on various themes concerning older persons with a participation of more than 700 to 800 delegates from all over India. This time more than 1400 delegates from every nook and corner of India gathered to discuss problems faced by Senior Citizens, especially women. HelpAge and Department of Science and Technology partly sponsored the event. Very popular MLA from Mathura, Sri Pradeep Mathur, was a pillar of great support.

 

Dignitaries who graced the Conference included: Sri BL Joshi, Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Sri Bhupendra Singh Huda Chief Minister of Haryana, Sri Pradeep Jain, Minister of State, Rural Development, GOI, and Sri Sabarwal, President Emeritus of HelpAge India. Sri Napolean, Minister of State, Social Justice and Empowerment, who had confirmed his participation, could not make it at the last moment. Well known for his sympathy towards senior citizens in Haryana, Sri Huda promised a donation of Rs 10 lakhs to the All India Senior Citizens' Confederation [AISCCON]. Sri Mathur, MLA, was with us throughout the confeference.

 

Several resolutions were passed during this historic meet on important issues like: Implementation of National Policy on Older Persons, fully subsidized health insurance for BPL and on graded sharing basis for APL category of older persons, implementation of Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens' Act by all states without further delay, increasing Old Age Pension to Rs 1000 per month from the current Rs 400 per month, concessions in Bus and Train travel, separate Ministry exclusively for Senior Citizens, parity in payment of pension to retirees of Central and State Government and Public Sector undertakings, etc.

 

A very important decision which was taken was to urge the Government to provide subsidized health care to widow senior citizens irrespective of whether they belong to BPL or APL category.  This decision was taken in view of the rampant negligence of the health care of widows. Welfare of older women was the central theme of the conference.

 

Another important resolution was to ask the Government to provide fully subsidized health care to the BPL inmates of Old Age Homes and payment of Old Age Pension to all those who are eligible; in short their wellbeing should be the National responsibility.

 

Immediately after the conference, a delegation led by Sri RN Mital, President of AISCCON and Sri Pradeep Mathur, MLA Mathura, met Smt Sonia Gandhi. Appearing to be fairly well informed of senior citizens' issues and problems, she promised to look into the possibility of setting up a separate Commission for Senior Citizens Welfare. AISCCON had been demanding that a separate Ministry and a Commission to be set up exclusively for Senior Citizens. She was also very positive about affordable health insurance for older people and the implementation of various schemes for the welfare of Senior Citizens.  

 

The delegation also called on the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. 

 

It may not be out of place to mention that the softening of the Central Government towards problems of Senior Citizens is probably the consequence of Senior Citizens National Protest Day observed on August 16th all over India and that was widely covered by the press and electronic media.

 

 

This Note has been jointly written by Sri RN Mital and Dr P Vyasamoorthy








Monday, October 18, 2010

Comments and discussions on OAH

Sss-global discussions on the blog post How many OAHs are the in India?

I am presenting below the discussions on the above post for wider circulation here, as a separate post. Contributors are: Prof PV Ramamurti, Shankar Rao Chepuri, Badrinarayana Miriyala, Suryanarayana Ambadipudi, RN Mital and of course yours faithfully.

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Dear Dr Vyasamoorthy

That is a wonderful job

However we can never know the exact list of old age homes for many of them are not registered or even notified to the Ministry unless they seek assistance from them

I tried to do this and even suggested that the ministry mandate that any body wanting to open a residential home or day care center should register with a notified authority and pay a nominal fees, bu t of no avail and hence we cannot know the exact number or details of these homes and institutions.

Regards

Prof.P.V.Ramamurti Phd,FNA(Psy)

Tirupati.A.P.517502

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This has reference to Prof PV Ramamurti's reply about compulsory registration of old age homes. Tamilnadu Rules under MWPSCA 2007 provide for such registration.

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Sir,

I am not disputing with the data of HelpAge.Your effort is laudable.

There are more than 30 old age homes run by recognised and private agencies in the twin cities of Hyderabad and Secunderabad ,besides there is atleast one in each of the revenue divisions in the state. on an average there are a minimum of three revenue divisions in 23 districts of A.P.

In all municipal corporation areas like Vizag,Rajahmundry,Vijayawada,Guntur,Tirupathi,

Kadapa,Kurnool,Warangal etc., there are not less two old age homes to my knowledge.

Many NGOs and NRIs are also running old age homes . Now we can make out the figure.

Regards,

A.Suryanarayana

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Thanks for your feedback, suryanayana.

According to your guestimates the number of Old Age Homes in AP works out to 115 and the HelpAge count comes to the same. However, I have another list addresses of some 135 OHHs in Twin cities alone, but many appear to be bogus, set up only to milch govt funds. This list was created by FAPSCO looking into MOSJE records. AP has grabbed maximum grants but is doing very little in this area. Very sad state of affairs. The role of private OAHs and NGOs in AP is mixed and blessed, in my view.

Dr P Vyasamoorthy, 30 Gruhalakshmi Colony Secunderabad 500015 Ph 040-27846631 /

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Sir, should a state have less or more OAHs?They should exist either on charity or on paymentbasis?.I think the govt should come forward to establish Hostels for old people in the way hostels are established for students by SW department .What inference should we draw if a state has less or more OAHs.My little mind thinks that older people or well lookedafter by their sons in a state with less number of OAHs or some thing else?.As for AP is concerned what I think is establishing a oah means getting land allocated from government for less cost.The govt should think that welfare of old people is also a part of socialwelfare activity because older people are also part of society

Badrinarayana Miriyala

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Dear Sri Badrinarayana Miriyala

Thanks for raising many thoughtful questions

There is an imbalance in the availability of old age homes in a state The number and type should match demands, affordability and community. By type I mean whether it is suited (in terms of facilities / infrastructure) for destitute, BPL or APL category. By affordability I mean money charged should not be exploitative and only profit / commerce based but commensurate with services / goods offered. In some communities the senior citizens ar still looked after well and not abandoned - for instance Muslims. Tis culture has changed for the worse in other communities.

For your second point, I tend to believe that government should fund (give grants) for construction of good old age homes and give the maintenance to SCAs or NGOs -- for the second aspect to be effective, there should be certain minimum service and performance standards laid down along with provision for periodical inspection by third parties say SCAs or State level federations or similar accrediting institutions.

Looking at the overall scene, I have a hunch that the number of OAHs is inadequate and more are needed. It is better to have many OAHs with smaller capacities (number of beds) all through the state than maintain one big facility in each district head quarters. MWPSCA mentions talks about one 150-bed OAH in each district without saying anything about budgetary provision for the same. The Act does not make it obligatory on the part of the State govt with respect to this stipulation.

My understanding is that government does not give land for OAH but only grants for building. Charitable trusts have land to spare for such activities. These must be tapped.

Your last sentence: "The govt should think that welfare of old people is also a part of socialwelfare activity because older people are also part of society" was indeed our main thrust when Senior Citizens Protest Day was observed through out the country on 16th August 2010.

Dr P Vyasamoorthy, 30 Gruhalakshmi Colony Secunderabad 500015 Ph 040-27846631 /

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Instead of giving number, it would be better or useful if some body gives names and addresses of old age home.

SHANKAR RAO CHEPURI

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Dear Shankar Rao

Addresses and detailed answers to many questions like: capacity, when established, whether both men and women are allowed, If charges are levied how much, contact particulars, facilities offered, type of food (veg / non veg etc etc are all available in HelpAge Directory of Old Age Homes 2009.This is a 478 pages book. Please buy it and use it, if you constantly look for Old Age Homes or want to help others with this type of information.. I have only culled out data from that publication for wider circulation.

Dr P Vyasamoorthy, 30 Gruhalakshmi Colony Secunderabad 500015 Ph 040-27846631 /

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Dear friends,

The recent exchange of mails on Old Age Homes was very interesting. In view of the importance of the subject a full session will be devoted on it in the forthcoming Conference of AISCCON at Mathura. The following resolution is proposed to be moved in it and if approved, will be followed up with the Authorities [MOSJE].

" The distribution of Old Age Homes in different States is very uneven both number and category wise. It is therefore, demanded that,

a] a detailed survey should be carried out in each State to determine the number and categories of Old Age Home beds which will be required during next few years

b] the minimum facilities which should be provided in each category and the maximum charges, should be laid down

c] the existing Old Age Homes should be inspected and categorized.

d] the working of existing Old Age Homes should be monitored at least once in six months by a Joint Committee in each District consisting of representatives of Senior Citizens and the District Administration. The annual grant, if any, should depend on the report of this Committee."

Comments are invited.

In fact AISCCON is very much concerned about the working of Old Age Homes particularly those catering to BPL inmates. That is why through another resolution we have demanded that all BPL inmates should be covered by State subsidised health insurance, including those who are terminally ill. Moreover, those who are eligible must be paid Old Age Pension. We have also demanded that their well-being should be the National Responsibility.

Warm regards,

R.N.Mital

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(All the points above have been taken for discussion in AISCCON NATIONAL CONFERENCE at Mathura -- Vyasamoorthy)

Saturday, October 16, 2010

How many Old Age Homes are there in India?

I have compiled the data from HelpAge Directory 2009
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Comments: See how the OAHs are unevenly distributed. Small UTs like Goa and Delhi have 25 and 36 OAHs; Large States like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have just 28 and 16 OAHs; Bihar, known as a Bhimary state, has only one! Southern states fare much better having an average of 135 per state. Tamilnadu (and not Kerala) tops the list with 251 OAHs but nearly half of them have not furnished any details which makes one guess that most of them are only on paper. Similar is the case with West Bengal, where out of 164 OAHs details of 115 are not known). Zero in the table should actually be read as “Not known” or Not available.

Do you know of any studies that assess the requirement of old age homes in India?





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Vyasamoorthy