THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With a population having the highest life expectancy in the country, Kerala is faced with an alarming rise in the number of elderly suicides. As many as 1,698 persons above 60 killed themselves in 2013, forming 14.8 percent of the total elderly suicides in the country, according to the National Crime Records Bureau.
Kerala is next only to Tamil Nadu which constituted 15.5 percent of the national figure for elderly suicides.
According to Census 2011, Kerala had the highest number of elderly in the country with people aged above 60 forming 11.8 percent of the total 3.34-crore population. Of them, 5,41,849 were above 80 and 5,431 above 100. “Though the state’s contribution to the national statistics reflects its huge number of aged population, equally significant is the miserable conditions in which they are forced to live,” said Dr P K B Nair, chairman of the Thiruvananthapuram-based Centre for Gerontological Studies.
“Nowhere else in the country has the joint family system disappeared as much as in Kerala. The elderly are a depressed lot today with their kith and kin showing the least regard to their welfare,” he said.
Dr P K B Nair, chairman of the Thiruvananthapuram-based Centre for Gerontological Studies said the concept of family integration should get more popularity and that a “value-based” education system was imperative. While the families should look after their welfare, the government should strengthen the social security system, by providing a decent hike in the old-age pension and other benefits.
Social Welfare Minister M K Muneer said the government would soon launch a comprehensive plan for the elderly. “We are giving shape to an action plan based on the senior citizen policy launched recently. It will be a holistic care plan with due focus on psychological interventions,” he said.
“Various welfare measures, including awareness programmes for families, counselling and medical help, will be part of the plan,” the minister added.