Mysuru: Mumbai’s Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) faculty Prof. R. Ramkumar said that the Centre should introduce General Pension and Health Insurance to cover  all senior citizens of the country.

He was speaking at the inauguration of the 3-day 9th Quarterly General Conference organised by All India Insurance Pensioners Association(AIIPA) at a private Hotel near Highway circle in Bannimantap                                                     here yesterday.

Pointing out that the average life span of people in  India was about 40-42 years in the Pre-independence era, Prof. Ramkumar said that the life span has now increased to 70-72 years because of advancements in the medical field and health care. But it is unfortunate that the Health and Insurance services have not been extended to cover this. It is not correct to keep out elderly citizens from Health Insurance, he said adding that these services must be extended to cover all elderly people.

Noting that at present, there are 17 crore senior citizens in the country, he said that this number is expected to reach 34 crore by 2047. According to a survey, about 40 percent of the senior citizen population is under the Below Property Line, while about 70 percent population of the country do not have an assured  income. Stating that the Survey also showed that 54 percent of the senior citizens population is completely dependent on others, Prof. Ramkumar said that 75 percent of them are facing health issues. Expressing concern over rising suicidal deaths of senior citizens, he regretted that the Government was not up to the mark  in providing social security and care to the elderly.

Maintaining that senior citizens are turning out to be a resource in European countries, Japan, China etc., he bemoaned that, but in our country, senior citizens are not considered as a human resource. Facilities cannot be provided to them if there is no increase in Per Capita income of the people, he contended.

“India is currently ranked the Fourth largest economy in the world and the country is expected to climb to the third spot shortly. This has been possible because of the huge population of the country. At the same time, one should note that India stands at the 127th spot among 196 countries of the world in Per Capita income. Though it is possible that India can become ‘Viksit Bharath’ by 2047, India may only reach the 90th position in world ranking in respect of Per Capita income and as such there can be no relation between India’s economy size and life improvement”, he argued.

Earlier, the conference Reception Committee Chairperson Prof. Sabiha Bhumigowda who delivered the keynote address, said that the Conference is expected to pass a resolution on opposing 100 percent FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) in the Insurance sector, withdrawal of Govt. shares in LIC and attempts to privatise the General Insurance sector. There is a need for launching a mass movement for forcing the Govt. to declare General Pension covering every person in the society, she added.

All India Insurance Employees Association President V. Ramesh, General Secretary Srikanth Mishra, AIIPA President Satanjib Das, General Secretary Kunhikrishnan, the Invitation Committee office-bearers S. Sridhar, C.R. Krishnamurthy, Balaram, Mahadevaiah, Rajendra and Umapathy were present.