Measures to be taken:

  • A minimum universal monthly pension of Rs. 2,000 for the elderly is quite doable for a $2 trillion economy like India.
  • Housing for the aged, particularly the aged poor, must be a priority and be made a subset of the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
  • Assisted living facilities for indigent elderly, particularly those with age-related issues like dementia, needs policy focus.
  • Finance ministry can give more tax breaks, or at least removing tax on deposit interest for seniors.
  • Micro-pension is a personal retirement savings plan, in which People save a small part of their income individually during their working life that is invested collectively to generate periodical returns.
  • When people retire their accumulated capital is paid out in monthly amounts.
  • Such a scheme would balance between economic viability and generation of adequate returns for the participants
  • Government for its part can offer a degree of financial flexibility to the low-income communities for low or no minimum contribution requirements in order to encourage membership to such micro pension schemes.
  • In order to facilitate frequent deposits by the low- income groups, convenient door-to-door deposit collection can be organised by the government.