Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 9
According to the Longitudinal Survey of India (LASI) report, one in 20 – i.e. 5% – of people aged 60 years or more have experienced ill-treatment in the last one year in India.
With only 0.3% of the abuse report, Nagaland was among other Northeastern States like Mizoram (0.1%) and Meghalaya (0.8%) at the bottom of the list while the highest abuse reports originated from Bihar (11.7%).
The Longitudinal Survey of India (LASI) is a national survey that studies ageing at the population-level in India. According to the survey site, LASI’s first national wave “is a nationally representative survey of 72,250 older adults aged 45 and above across all states and union territories of India. The data collection activities for [the wave] were carried out between April 2017 and December 2018.” It was conducted by the International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai – an autonomous organisation of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
This data provides a glimpse of the extent to which the elderly in the country are ill-treated.
Among the elderly who experienced abuse, 53% experienced it occasionally, 14% frequently and 33% only a few times. In addition, of those who reported experiencing abuse, more than three-fourths experienced verbal or emotional abuse, a fifth faced physical ill-treatment and around a third said they were economically exploited.
The people perpetrating the abuse are usually the caretakers and in nearly 40% of reports of abuse, the offenders were reportedly children or grandchildren, followed by sons-in-law and daughters-in-law. Spouses and siblings were offenders in 6.7% and 3.5% of cases, respectively. Relatives, friends and neighbours made up the “Others” category.
According to other recent studies, an increase in ill-treatment towards the elderly has been observed during the COVID-19 pandemic-induced lockdown. While Nagaland is at the bottom of the list in terms of abuse reports, it is pertinent to address the 0.3% and ensure a safe environment for older citizens in the State.
