Bangalore, Aug 7 (Inditop.com) Septuagenarian Anand Babu says he would prefer death to a life of misery. The resident of a Bangalore slum, he has been bedridden for the last two years. He and his wife have virtually no money even as they have been abandoned by their son.
“My son has left me, now I am alone with my wife. I am not well and cannot go out to earn. My wife is working as a maidservant. She earns very little and we can hardly afford to run the house. My wife is also old and we both need medical attention, but have no money,” said Babu who lives in Ambedkar Nagar slum and used to be a daily wager until a decade ago.
In the twilight of their lives, many elderly in the slums of India’s IT hub are passing miserable lives. The growing cost of living and a breakdown of the joint family system are hitting them where it hurts. Many are being forced to beg.
Subramaniam P., a 64-year-old retired security guard who stays in a slum at L.R. Nagar, said life had become more difficult now.
“Firstly, we’re poor and after we become old and cannot work, life becomes more difficult. All my three daughters are married and my wife also died some years back. Now I am alone and I am not working any more. My savings are almost finished. I don’t know what to do now,” he lamented.
Hundreds of elderly people in Bangalore’s shanties are struggling every day for two square meals, according to Slum Janandolan Karnataka (SJK), a voluntary group working for the rights of slumdwellers of the state.
India’s Silicon Valley is home to around 800 slums. According to figures available with the municipal corporation, Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike, approximately 600,000 people out of the city’s eight million population live in the slums.
“Around 30 percent of the slum population are elderly people. Along with food insecurity, there is no one to take care of their medical needs,” Isaac Arul Selva, one of the convenors of SJK, told Inditop.
Karnataka’s Welfare of Disabled and Senior Citizens Department’s Bangalore branch has 565,668 senior citizens on its rolls.
According to experts, the problems of senior citizens, especially those from the underprivileged sections of society, are more pressing.
“With the change in lifestyle and advancement of medical sciences, the elders are living longer. A breakdown of the traditional joint family system and exorbitant increase in cost of living has drastically reduced the level of economic security of most of the elders,” Radha S. Murthy, managing trustee of the Nightingales Medical Trust, a Bangalore-based NGO working for the cause of senior citizens, told Inditop.
“If they are poor, without any financial security, then the problem is more pressing,” added Murthy.
Lalita Ubhayakar, the founder of the voluntary organization Ashvasan Foundation, which works for the elderly people of Bangalore, said the elderly residing in the city’s slums are struggling hard to survive each day.
“Many are forced to take to beggary,” she said.
The foundation is now planning to extend its project of feeding senior citizens in the slums throughout Bangalore in a phased manner.
“Six years back we started a project to feed elderly people in the five slums of Bangalore. Now, we want to extend it to other slums also, but in a phased manner. For the project to go in a big way, we need funds,” said Ubhayakar.
Ashvasan, founded in 1993, is currently feeding senior citizens in the slums of MRS Palya, Bhuvaneswari Nagar, Shivajinagar, Vyalikaval and Yelahanka. Approximately 150 senior citizens are being provided food, blankets, clothing, medicines, toiletries and so on regularly, and are also being taught skills like paper-bag making.
“The cost of this is approximately Rs.20,000 per month, and the foundation needs a van to keep on with this daily midday meal distribution,” said Ubhayakar.
“I have been getting meals from Ashvasan for the last six years. I am grateful to them for feeding me, otherwise I would have to beg,” said Krishna Rao, 68, a resident of Bhuvaneswari Nagar.
