BHUBANESWAR: As the country faces a sharp rise in its elderly population with huge gap in the demand and supply of caregivers, Odisha’s three-month certificate programme for geriatric caregivers has emerged as one of the state-level initiatives highlighted by NITI Aayog in its latest report on developing a professional ecosystem in India.
The report Reimagining Care: Strategies for Empowering Caregivers in Viksit Bharat @2047 has pointed out that India’s elderly population stood at about 149 million in July 2022, accounting for 10.5 per cent of the population. It is projected to rise to 194 million by 2031 and 347 million, or 20.8 per cent of the population by 2050.
Odisha currently runs a three-month training programme aimed at preparing caregivers to provide physical and mental health support to elderly persons. The course covers activities of daily living, dementia care, counselling, physiotherapy, first aid and management of bed sores, among other aspects of geriatric care.
The candidates must have passed Class X and be between 18 and 38 years of age. The programme is currently being conducted at four locations in the state and has a target of training 400 caregivers annually. Matriculates within the age group of 18 to 38 are eligible for the programme, said the NITI Aayog report.
As the population of elderly persons aged 60 and above are expected to rise from 13.4 per cent to 15.6 per cent by 2031, the report said the need for formal caregiving services is expected to grow as traditional family-based care is already under pressure from rising female labour force participation, urbanisation, migration and the shift from joint to nuclear families.
It estimates that around 10 per cent of India’s population are family caregivers, while pointing to persistent challenges such as shortages of trained workers, low wages, rising long-term care costs and limited protection for both paid and unpaid caregivers. NITI Aayog’s review of international and Indian models found that there is no single approach to building an organised caregiving system. States have adopted different combinations of training, financing, service delivery and workforce-development mechanisms.
Tamil Nadu, for instance, launched a three-month certificate course for home-based elderly care support assistants in 2024 across 36 government medical colleges, with an intake capacity of 975 candidates. Karnataka has introduced a monthly allowance of `1,000 for certain unpaid caregivers and supports caregiver groups while Kerala has developed skill programmes and a home-care business model under Kudumbashree.
Against this backdrop, NITI Aayog has proposed a broader national framework, including a national policy on caregiving, a National Caregiver Council as the apex institution, accreditation and regulation of training institutions, standardised curriculum and certification, and short- and long-term caregiving courses.
It has also recommended a national portal for caregivers and care seekers and a national caregiver registry.