INDIA: Parliament Passes Maintenance & Welfare of Parents, Senior Citizens Bill

NEW DELHI (The Hindu - PTI), December 6, 2007: Children who abandon parents in their twilight years, beware. They may face three months' imprisonment and cannot even appeal against the punishment. A Bill passed by Parliament Thursday will ensure that elderly people are taken care of by their children failing which they would face penal action. "The bill provides for three months' jail term if children do not look after old parents. The penal provision is meant to act as a deterrent," Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Meira Kumar, told Rajya Sabha. Kumar said children cannot go in for appeal. "This has been done deliberately, as they have a lot of resources which the old people do not have," she said. Later, the Rajya Sabha passed the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill 2007, by a voice vote. The statement of objects and reasons of the bill says though the parents can claim maintenance under the CrPC, the procedure is both "time-consuming as well as expensive," and there was need to have simple, inexpensive and speedy provisions for care of parents. The bill has a clause for punishment to those who abandon their parents or relatives whose property they have inherited or would get as their legal heirs. The bill, already passed by Lok Sabha, provides for setting up of a tribunal in each district for helping the aged in distress. It also has a provision for establishment of old-age homes which, the Minister said, should be the last resort for the poor and the childless. The bill says "due to withering of the joint family system, a large number of elderly are not being looked after by their family. "Consequently, many older persons, particularly widowed women, are now forced to spend their twilight years all alone, and are exposed to emotional neglect and lack of physical and financial support. "This clearly reveals that old age has become a major social challenge, and there is need to give more attention to care and protection of older persons." Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. ______________________________________________________________________ Related Report NEW DELHI (Earthtimes), December 6, 2007: The Rajya Sabha today unanimously passed the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2007, that seeks to protect senior citizens and makes neglecting parents above 60 years punishable by a fine and imprisonment or both. The bill has already been passed in the Lok Sabha. Members praised Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar for bringing the bill. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Gyan Prakash Pilania, who came in a wheel chair to support the bill, broke into tears and spoke passionately, thanking Kumar for her efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the elderly who are neglected and harassed by their children. 'There was an old fruitless mango tree in the courtyard of a man who had himself become old and invalid. One day his sons and grandsons got together and decided to pull down the tree for uselessly occupying space. The old man beckoned to them and told them, 'even if this tree is not giving you any fruit, it is at least providing you some shade from the sun, why pull it down?'' 'The children did not heed his plea and pulled down the tree to make way for a fresh plant. That is the plight of the old people today,' he said. Pilania said: 'There are some inadequacies in this bill but the very fact that you thought of the neglected and harassed old people is very good and this indeed is a noble act on your part.' Frequent critic Eknath Thakur (Shiv Sena) congratulated government for the bill. 'My parents died when I was barely two. I worked and studied' How can those who have parents be disrespectful and cruel to them, he wondered. Nand Kishore Yadav (Samajwadi Party), generally critical, said: 'I rise today to support this bill. It is sad day for India and a reflection on the degeneration of Indian culture that we have to pass such a law to protect the old and ageing parents from their children and relatives and provide for their maintenance.' Supporting the bill wholeheartedly, AIADMK member C. Perumal said, 'Life is moving so fast that no one has time for ageing parents.' The only jarring note came from independent member Tarlochan Singh, who ridiculed the government for bringing the bill. (c) 2007 Earthtimes.org