7/31/2019 Pioneer Epaper

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My 88-year-old fatherlives with me. He is arenowned scholar who,

as a young man, lived life in tightmargins, struggling to educatehis brothers and a sister.However, I remember growingup in a sunny house full ofbooks and music and an animat-ed father who loved to teach andreach out to his students.

My father still writes prolif-ically. His knee muscles areweak, but he ignores his frequentfalls, wakes up at the crack ofdawn, exercises, reads four news-papers, drinks his coffee, eats hisfruits and muesli, his morningssound-tracked by melodies fromthe 50s and the 60s. By 10 am,he is ready to leave home toattend to his official work and touse his small office space to read,write and dream. He cribs aboutthe multitude of visitors whopoach on his time, but lovesthem nonetheless. His driver fol-

lows him like a shadow, helpinghim negotiate difficult steps,

walking him to his room.My father gets back home at

dusk, to another large cup of cof-fee followed by a physiotherapysession, and then settles downfor conversations with hisfriends and grand-children. Heneeds constant oxytocin spikes and his long telephone con-

versations seem to be set in thatdirection. Post-dinner he surfsthrough NDTV/CNN IBN/Doordarshan news channels,tracking hot button issues withattentiveness, reads a little, swal-lows pills for diabetes, for mus-cle strength, uses eye drops tokeep his eyes moist and is readyto sleep by 11 pm.

During his bouts of illness-es my father metamorphosesinto a different person. He liesin his bed completely deflatedand goes through bouts of delir-ium. Though, my peers havebeen sensitive to my needs as acare-giver, it is not easy to leave

a meeting halfway to rush hometo change my fathers diaper or

check his temperature. Itrequires an amazing amount ofeffort and medical support to gethim back to the routine andreclaim the person that he is. Ioften put myself in his shoes andwonder what it means to feel sototally out of control.

My fathers life is lived by aminiscule percentage of theelderly population in a countrywhose demographics are mov-ing in two different directions.If, on the one hand, we have aburgeoning young population,on the other, the increase in thenumber of older people hasbeen momentous.

In developed countries, pop-ulation ageing has been a grad-ual process, languidly spreadover the years following theindustrial revolution. In France,for instance, it has taken 115years (1865-1980) for the ageingpopulation to double from sevento 17 per cent. In developing

countries, it has been quickerdue to a discernible decline in

fertility and a concomitantincrease in life span. A UNPopulation Fund and HelpAgeIndia report, released on theInternational Day of OlderPersons (October 1) throws upstartling figures on the speed ofpopulation ageing and its pub-lic health consequences.

India was home to 90 mil-lion ageing persons in 2011. Ofthese more than 30 million livealone, battling their chronicand debilitating illnesses bythemselves, struggling with seri-ous livelihood issues and theeconomics of ageing a largeinformal sector, flexibility oflabour participation patterns,continuing migration andurbanisation, declining socialsecurity, inadequate healthcarefinancing and provision, limit-ed access to old age and widowpension the list is endless.Women outnumber men andhalf the elderly women belong

to the two poorest consumptionquintiles. If all this isnt alarm-

ing enough, by 2050, India isexpected to be home to one outof every six of the worlds age-ing population.

The speed of populationageing and its feminisation hasalso put into focus the need forcreating and strengthening a reli-able database. The primary dataavailable from censuses, house-hold surveys, vital registrationsystems and health informa-tion systems are too sketchy evenwhen it comes to something asbasic as measuring adult mortal-ity and causes of death.

What is in place is the enact-ment of the Maintenance ofParents and Senior Citizens Act,2007, a piece of legislation thathas more or less remained onpaper, and a National Programfor Health Care for Elderly,introduced in 2010. This flagshipprogramme aims to provideaccessible and affordable servicesto the ageing by equipping 100

districts every year with geriatricclinics and wards and setting up

regional geriatric centres withdedicated outpatient clinics andwards. However, with the excep-tion of a few success stories inMewat, Yamuna Nagar and Leh,and the setting up of geriatriccentres in AIIMS and theChennai Medical College provisioning of healthcare for theageing remains largely a pipedream, backed by chronic fooddeprivation and sustained poorratings in the globalhunger index.

An integrated approachwithin the context of broadersocial policy that, in addition tohealth and nutrition, alsoaddresses issues related to liveli-hood, housing and long-termcommunity support, is the needof the hour. India needs a seri-ous wake-up call. Clearly this isno country for old men, and evenless so for old women.

(The writer is a civil servantwho comments on gender and

health issues. The article reflectsher personal views)

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Soon after she arrived atWriters Building in May lastyear, Mamata Banerjeeannounced that she wouldrecognise and support 10,000

khariji (private) madarssas in WestBengal. In an article I wrote foranother publication, I questioned thesincerity of her promise.

It was (and remains) my con-tention that her plan would fail forthree reasons. First, the majority ofmadarssas she intends to supportderive legitimacy from their indepen-dent status. They cannot and will notaccept monetary help from the State.Second, Ms Banerjee enjoys no lever-age over the madarssas that she seeksto target. Neither she nor her politi-cal rivals can influence the behaviourand the decisions of West Bengalskhariji madarssas(the latter continueto resist efforts at politicisation).

Third, her State does not contain10,000 kharijimadarssas.There are no more than 4,000 khar-

iji madarssasin West Bengal (this esti-mate is based on the fact thatDeobandis run approximately 750madarssas in the State, while othermaslaks and sects Ahle Hadith,Barelvi, and Shia have a smallerkhariji presence). The successful exe-cution of Ms Banerjees plan thusdemands that she build 6,000 madarssasbefore she begins to assist them.

A year ago, Ms Banerjees readi-ness to make such an unrealisticpromise could be excused as an igno-rant mistake. But it was difficult toremain this forgiving in September,when representatives of herGovernment told the media that shesonly moderately unsuccessful in deliv-ering on this promise. According toan official of her madarssa depart-ment, Ms Banerjees Government hasmanaged (magically, I must add) tolocate, count, and receive requests forassistance from, 5,500 khari jimadarssas (further requests arereportedly pouring in).

So, the kids are impressed, butthey also want to know how MsBanerjees trick really works. How didshe pull more than 1,000 khariji

madarssas out of her sleeve? How didshe convince at least 750 (Deobandi)madarssas to seek her financial assis-tance, reversing a 145-year old prin-ciple of financial independence fromthe State? There are three possibleexplanations, listed in increasingorder of their implied impropriety.

First, Ms Banerjee, with helpfrom the State polices intelligencebranch, may be locating and countingmaktabs in addition to madarssas.

Maktabs administer Quranic classeson a part-time basis, usually to sup-plement other forms of full-time sec-ular or religious study. Since they gen-erally take the form of a room with-in a mosque, maktabs significantlyoutnumber madarssas (it is indeed thecase that every exaggerated madarssasestimate includes maktabs in its tally).

While it is unlikely that MsBanerjee should subsidise what is inessence religious extra-coaching, the

criteria and conditions for her sup-port also make this possibility diffi-cult to carry out. As the StatesDirectorate of Madrasah Education

website indicates , qualifyingmadarssas must meet certain infra-structural prerequisites, including abuilding and spacious classrooms.Most maktabs possess neither.

A second possible explanation isthat Ms Banerjees promised initiativeencouraged opportunistic individualsto benefit from her support by estab-lishing newmadarssas. This scenariowould imply that Ms BanerjeesGovernment is supporting madarssasthat did not exist before she tookoffice, without providing any help tomadarssas that were already in place.It would, therefore, make Ms Banerjeeindirectly responsible for the estab-lishment of most of the madarssas thatare now seeking her assistance. Butthis possibility also seems unlikelysince the first criterion for eligibilityis that the recipient madarssa hasbeen running continuously for atleast three yea rs.

The third possible explanation ismore serious. It suggests that MsBanerjee and/or members of herGovernment have dishonestly por-

trayed their madarssa assistanceefforts. Members of her madarssateam say her Government has assist-ed 500 kharijimadarssas so far, andthat efforts are underway to answerthe remaining 5,000 requests.

Earlier this year, news reports sug-gested that the Government of Jammu& Kashmir was manipulating itsmadarssa reform statistics, after it sur-faced that some madarssas on the Stateslist of recipients did not exist while oth-ers denied receiving any assistance.Might Ms Banerjees policy (and herabsurd attempts to implement it) invitesimilar allegations, by helping madarssasthat do not want support, and offeringsupport to more madarssas than exist?At best, such false reporting renders MsBanerjee and her team dishonest. At itspossible worst, her Government wouldrely on these fabricated numbers toaccess central funds reserved for minor-ity welfare. That such funds will now be

difficult to obtain from the Centre fol-lowing her withdrawal from the UPA, isa separate matter.

Each of these three explanations

involves misappropriation of funds:The first to maktabs instead ofmadarssas, the second to madarssasthat did not exist a year ago, and thethird to some other unknown andinappropriate place(s). TheDirectorate of Madrasah Educationwebsite tells us that the first two expla-nations are possible: TheGovernment may relax the conditions,if necessary, in special circumstancesto reach the target.

Yet, the realities of West Bengalsmadarssa landscape tell us that thethird explanation is most li kely. Withthe hoopla surrounding her pulloutbehind us, perhaps Ms Banerjee cancount on Goddess Durgas blessingsbefore re-enacting her magic trick justone last time.

(The author is a DPhil candidateat the University of Oxford, and a keenobserver of madarssas functioning inIndia and Bangladesh)

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