Challenges of Dependency and Family Care in Rural India

 

Dr. Jawahar Lal Tiwari

 

INTRODUCTION:

In Sociology as well as in ordinary usage the term family is used in the sense of a household as well as of a wider kinship unit whose members may live in more than one household. Family has been operating as an effective social security system. The requirements of hospitality and sharing of material resources with less fortunate kinsmen is almost a necessity in an economically under developed society “Thus the essential nature of family responsibility is that it is the acceptance of responsibility without a sense of obligation.” (A.D. Ross).

 

In India the percentage of the age group of sixty and above called the ageing in this paper, while this paper is about the challenges facing dependency at the turn of the twenty-first century. Add to this natural growth, the drive that is on to bring down the rate of birth to the level of that of death within the same period.¹

 

This along with the longer lease of life for those existing through health care would tend to result in a disproportionately high ratio of the old person in comparison to that of the young in the family. The signs of the strains are showing already. It will also be extremely complicated on account of the bewildering diversities in language, belief, way of life and level of material and social development. The task is stupendous and the assessment is lacking.²

 

OBJECTIVE:

It objective at presenting in concrete term, collected from the field of study, the nature and extent of the dependency of the ageing, as defined, as well as their participation in the work force of rural household, with agriculture as the principal occupation. By dependency is meant the parking of individual in their old age.

 

METHODOLOGY:

This paper is based on fieldwork from 300 respondents, selected through stratified sample on the basis of some socio-economic characteristics. The field work for this study took place primarily in rural areas of Raipur and Bilaspur district of Chhattisgarh through the help of interview schedule. The present paper is attempt toward the filling of the gap within a limited area.

 

The data have been presented in two sections, first section deals with the conditions of the old member in the households. The second section elaborates on the nature of dependency likely through direct interaction. The data are from 04(Four) villages within the range of 25 km. from the township of Raipur and Bilaspur district of the name in the state of Chhattisgarh India. 

 

 

Analysis – The paper concludes with a summary of the observations made from the study:-

 

Table – 1 Distribution of Elderly Population

S. No.	Sixty and above years of age	Frequency	Percentage
1	Male	155	51.7
2	Female	145	48.3
	Total	300	150

 

The  population  of aged 300 men from 51.7 percent and female 48.3percent.

 

Table -2 Occupational Status of Elderly Persons

Respondent	Not working	Working	Total
Male	50/16.7%	105/35%	155/51.71%
Female	48/16%	97/32.3%	145/48.3%
Total	98/32.7%	202/67.3%	300/100

 

The strength of the ageing was 67.3 percent of these were in the work force.

 

The general tendency of the men appears to have been to retain their economic independence as long as possible, while the women it has been to withdraw from out-door labor and fill the gap with small indoor work. 

 

Table 2.1 Reason Elderly Persons Working

Respondent	Control of farming	Independence	Domestic help required	Total
Male (N=105)	35/33.3%	45/43%	25/23.7%	105/ 100%
Female (N=97)	7/7.2%	33/34%	57/58.8%	97/ 100%

 

Urge for personal supervision of cultivation male 33.3% and female 7.2% Reluctance to part with the status of full economic independence male 43% and female 34% Drive to continue to be useful in performing domestic chores female. 58.8% and male 23.7% numerically out of 97 working women 57 were engaged in such domestic work.

 

Table – 2.2 Reason Elderly Person Not Working

Respondent	Diseased	Physically Handicapped	Incapacitation	Total
Male (N=50)	9/18%	21/42%	20/40%	50/100%
Female (N=48)	11/22.9%	23/47.9%	14/29.2%	48/100%

Desistance any kind of work was caused by physical disability, due to disease 20, being handicapped 44 and incapacitation from senility 34 (Table -2.2). That is to say, where physical disability and disease forced men out of work, physically handicapped and senility have proved the major constraints for the women.

 

Table – 3 Food and Living Arrangement Available to Elderly Person

Food and Living Arrangement	Male         -	Female	Total
Satisfactory	77/25.7%    -	80/26.7%	157/52.3%
Unsatisfactory	78/26%       -	65/21.6%	143/47.7%
Total	155/51.7%  -	145/48.3%	300/100%

 

Table 3 suggests that 26% of the men and 21.6% of the women dissatisfaction with the food served to them or with the living arrangements made for them.

 

In our sessions, it frequently came out that the old women proved to be irksome burden being more in the family life. They lived longer too than men. So they had to face greater neglet. The other reasons might be that men in a man ridden society would naturally get greater consideration.

 

Table – 4 Health Condition and Care Received  by Elderly Persons

Health condition and care received	Male	Female	Total
Good	87/29%       -	73/24.3%	160/53.3%
Not Good	68/22.7%    -	72/24%	140/46.7%
Total	155/51.7%  -	145/48.3%	300/100%

 

Table -4 compares the care meted out to the ageing and their health conditions. 24% women suffered from ill health and men 22.7% in this category and they complained of inadequate care. 29 %men and 24.3% of the women enjoyed good health and were satisfied with care they received.

 

The general impression is that though the care of the ageing ill was not discouraging on the whole, the women were received less attention than the man. A reason, a part from those adduced above was, it has to be borne in mind in this context, the general poverty of the people.

 

 

 

Table – 5 Opinion of Elderly Persons about Their Relation with Other Family Member(S)

Age – class (yrs)	Favourable	Non –Favourable	Total
	Men -   Women	Men -   Women
60-70	45(15%) - 5(18.3%)	35(11.7) -      48(16)	183/61%
71-80	56(18.6%)   -        -	-                  -     20(6.7%)	76/25.3%
81 & above	-           -         -	19(6.3%)   -     22(7.3%)	41/13.7%
Total	101/33.67 -55/18.3%	54/18%      -     90/30%	300/100%

 

A probe into the emotional attitude to the relation of the parked ageing with the rest of the family at the personal level was attempted (Table – 5)

 

This subtle Psychological aspect may be represented in concrete statistical terms: 54 men and 90 women might be put down as completely unhappy and impatient of their condition.

 

CONCLUSION:

The ageing population is on the increase along with the growth of the general population, in the country. Economic compulsion forces the ageing into the workforce of the family. The responsibility by social norms and convention rested with the grow-up sons, as a return for the trouble taken over their up-bringing.

 

The normal order may be disturbed only when the parents and their sons and grandchildren fail to keep good relation. There were a few-very small in number though, who chose to live away from their sons to avoid family tensions.

 

The interpersonal relationship of the ageing with the other members of the family occasions noticeable points –

i)       A sizeable majority of the ageing is bound to the other members of the family, by bonds of reciprocal respect, love and affection, irrespective of their complaints about accommodation food and old age care.

ii)      The dissatisfaction grows keener and bitterer with age.

 

Physical disability is the primary cause of dependence-Otherwise, old men in   the lower age brackets are often the bread – earners of the family and old women subsidiary earners adding to the family coffer.

 

 

REFERENCE:

1.       M.Nag, B.N.F. white and R.C.Peet. An Anthropological Approach to the study of the Economic value of children in Java and Nepal”, current anthropology, 19(2); 1978,293-306.

2.       Maeda “Ageing in Eastern Society, “ The Social Challenge of Ageing, London: Croom Helm 1978, pp 45-72.