Right to dignity

Old people should have the right to dignity in life and death. A mechanism needs to be evolved
to ensure that their twilight years are spent in peace, writes Triloki Das Khandelwal

IF human rights are to be classified in various categories of people like women, minorities, children and members of the SC and ST, then senior citizens constitute a special constituency. Age knows no discrimination of colour, caste, sex or creed. The citizens, who have crossed 65, have become disadvantaged in terms of ability, capability and health. Afflicted by diseases, these senior people are mostly unemployable and have no energy left to organise themselves to protect and preserve their own basic rights to life, livelihood and a graceful exit from this world.

They are a neglected lot, and the families which they raised with affection, care little about their survival needs and medical requirements. The Baghbaan story of the Hindi film of Amitabh is neither a caricature nor an exaggeration, but a sad commentary on the plight of senior citizens, who can neither protect nor promote their core human right—the right to life with dignity.

Family members, even when they are affectionate to their elders, have neither the time nor the resources to share the predicament of their seniors. In families where children have migrated to foreign countries or big metros, the senior generation has to languish in loneliness. In case of demise of the spouse, the old person feels shattered. The longevity adds to this torture and servants are not available to tend to the ailing patients. Such people, in the absence of their loved ones, want a graceful exit from the world.

Justice Syed Bashir-ud-Din, chairman of the J & K State Human Rights Commission, Srinagar, maintains: "Well -cared old age and dignified death, and disposal of the body is, in fact, a subject of wide social and public awareness. Ensuring the right to death with dignity is the need of the hour. A mechanism needs to be evolved and funds need to be generated to ensure that the last rights of the deceased are performed in a dignified manner.

Death happens to be the supreme reality of life. He who is born will have to die some day. Untimely death is a tragedy, but to die in the post 80 years of life is a joyous culmination of a fruitful existence, which should be more than welcome. All cultures, societies and religions salute this death and pay homage with silence. Arms are reversed and mourning is observed for VIPs as a mark of respect to the dead. But the death of a common man also needs respect, and society and state owe it to themselves as a duty to dispose of the mortal remains of the body with due dignity.

Justice DM Dharmadhikari, chairperson of the MP Human Rights Commission, has advised us to have an interaction with senior citizens through helpline schemes. "For older citizens who can pay, it can also be linked with health insurance companies. Older citizens and particularly those who are not living with family members and have lost their mental and physical capacities should have a dignified life and a dignified death."

In India antyeshti is one of the religious sanskaras to be performed by the son or the successor. Friends and neighbours assemble at the family residence to pay their last respects on the third day. The family which does not care for its dying seniors beats the social ritual, which, like marriage, represents their social status. Today when an old man breathes his last, even neighbours do not have time to accompany the body to the funeral ground. In future next of kin may also not arrive for the funeral. The hospital mortuaries may dispose of bodies en masse like dead animals are disposed of by municipal services.

To quote Justice VS Dave, former chairman, Rajasthan Law Commission: " The need of the hour is to persuade the Centre and state governments to construct electric crematoriums and also to provide vehicles to take mourners to cremation grounds’’.

The state and local bodies should launch a massive campaign of beautification of crematoriums. These should be green, quiet and scenic places with all facilities for prayers, religious discourses, devotional music and homage ceremonies. The social rituals and mournings that take place at home or on the roadside will gradually shift to these serene spots.

Our Social Security Foundation has strived hard for old age pensions and old age homes during the last decade. The need of the day-care medical facilitation has also been accepted by some of the state governments. We now wish to add a new old age exit service for a dignified death as human right of the old in our agenda.

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