Vol. 58 No. 27 • January 24, 2017
The nuclearisation of families is a trend that has been in vogue not just in the West but also in India of over the past few years. Apart from higher education levels, increased mobility of the workforce, rural to urban migration and brain drain to developed countries are all factors that are leading to nuclear families and their adjuvants – homes with empty nests. This poses a peculiar problem for Indian society which has traditionally relied on the joint family system and grown up children looking after seniors.
In many cases the problem isn’t even financial; seniors have often saved up their own nest egg not be financially reliant on their children for their upkeep. But they experience feeling of living alone when either spouse has died or that of being abandoned by the children for whom they sacrificed their youth. These emotional scars are often difficult to heal and this is where the concept of Old age homes piloted by the Senior Citizens committee come into vogue. These centres not only provide an infrastructure for elders to be looked after but also to engage with our silver citizens meaningfully even during the day.
Two years ago, an Old Age home at Ambernath was renovated by our Club and a separate wing was built. It cost us Rs.60 lakhs. There are more than 80 inmates in the facility now. RCB is now planning to construct day care shelters for the aged, which will help families where children working through the week cause elders to feel like they are imprisoned and have a life only on weekends.
In the spirit of giving RCB requests members to open their hearts and their purse strings to support this cause. We need approximately 30 lakhs to build the first day care centre at Alibaug. A plot of land has been promised to us on lease by the authorities at Alibaug. The project which is being led by PP Rtn Ashish Vaid will also see a similar day care centre being built at Lonavala. The land acquisition at both of these places is presently under process and we hope to start work on these in the new Rotary year.
