The population of India is undergoing major transformation; it is growing both larger and older. Currently, India is home to more than 100 million older people over 60 years of age. By 2050, the 60 + population will rise dramatically to more than 320 million. India's ageing population poses many challenges and is setting the stage for serious scientific research and major policy initiatives. This edited book is welcome in this context. As the editors describe, the book, structured into seven chapters, profiles different aspects of India's population ageing scenario, using available secondary data sources. The seven chapters are focused on demographics, work, living arrangements, health conditions, and review of policy and research studies.
The first chapter presents a demographic profile of population ageing in India. Past census and projected data on ageing-related indicators for India are used to describe the ageing trends in India. The chapter highlights the well-known growing trend in the proportion of older people and the more pronounced rise in older women in India. However, the authors fail to recognise the somewhat higher share of older people in rural compared to urban areas of India, and the demographics that shape this trend. Furthermore, there is reference to ageing transitions in the concluding section of this chapter; however, the chapter remains largely descriptive. Overall, this chapter is not adequately or objectively written and fails to encompass the demography of ageing transitions in India.
The second chapter deals with size and characteristics of the elderly workforce, and levels and trends in elderly work participation rates. Results from National Sample Survey data show that over 31 million older persons or 38 per cent of all 60 + older people are working in India; much higher than the levels that may be observed in countries with a larger share of the population working in organised labour markets. While analysis by age, sex and residence made sense and added value, the quintile-level analysis indicated no worthwhile differences. What would have added further value to this chapter is if these numbers had been highlighted against the backdrop of overall labour marker structure in India vis-à-vis high-income countries. The authors have also missed out not highlighting an emerging but opposite trend: that while the number of elderly workers is growing, the labour participation rate among the older population actually shows a declining trend.
The third chapter is an attempt to outline the structure and pattern of living arrangements using the National Family Health Survey data (NFHS) and District Level Household and Facility Survey data. Data are presented on the age distribution of the older population, feminisation and widowhood, literacy, household headship, and living alone and living with whom. The conclusion relating to an increasing older population, feminisation, literacy, etc., are all repetitive of what was stated earlier in Chapter 1; whereas, the chapter's main focus on living arrangements delimits its analysis to basics of residing alone or residing with children and others. From data analysis presented by the authors, there is much less scope to draw major policy conclusions. However, the authors go on to advocate ‘as a basic human right, a policy decision of universalisation of social pension indexed to inflation and health insurance for all elderly by modifying the existing RSBY [National Health Insurance Programme]’. This statement is clearly way beyond what the data analysis presented in this chapter reveals. On page 85 (paragraph 2), the authors casually state that ‘in India, about a third of households have an elderly person and this proportion is reducing’, without any reference and data support.
The fourth chapter attempts to examine the trends and differentials in the health conditions of the older population using 52nd (1995–6) and 60th (2004) rounds of National Sample Survey Office data. The authors present data on reported morbidity segregated for outpatient and hospitalisation cases. The chapter also looks at data on disability and self-rated health. The chapter is sufficiently long but fails to highlight two possible and necessary inputs from the data: morbidity prevalence and patterns and the gaps in health-care utilisation levels. The chapter is analytically dishevelled. In the conclusion of this chapter, the authors again unnecessarily repeat what the editors said in the beginning that this work is a collaboration of three organisations.
In the fifth chapter, the authors’ review of the National Policy for Older Persons 1999 rightly pronounces that it is a broad sweep and is largely a statement of recognition of the problem but falls short in articulating resource harmonisation plans across ministries or the implementation of any goals, targets or new initiatives. Resources are the key for implementing programmes for the elderly population.
The sixth chapter is a compilation of policy initiatives in different countries followed by generic recommendations. Merits of specific policies implemented in countries need a careful evidence-based evaluation of their possible long-term relevance for India's older population. The seventh and final chapter is an effort to review studies on different aspects of ageing in India, drawing on a selection of data used in the previous chapters.
Despite its use of secondary data sources, overall this book is characterised by its descriptive nature, rather than its scientific or academic approach. Overall, this book lacks scientific rigour in dealing with either contemporary research issues or addressing the long-term prospects of India's population ageing transition. A comprehensive copy-edit to minimise the English errors and check on repetitive content would have helped. The lack of emphasis on complying with standards of scientific language make the book less impressive.
