Society must overcome 'disorder' of placing elders in old age homes: Tripura Minister Tinku Roy

Social Welfare and Education Minister Tinku Roy on Tuesday, October 1 appealed to eliminate the societal issue of placing elderly people in various old age homes and informed that the state government is currently providing social allowances to over 1.65 lakh senior citizens.

“Elders are the guides of society. The society, state, and country can benefit greatly from the honest advice and experience of elders. Those who are young today will eventually become elders themselves. Therefore, society must overcome this disorder by avoiding the creation of new old age homes and relying on such institutions to shelter the elderly," said the Minister.

He emphasized that true respect should be shown to elders, and only then will the celebration of the International Day of Older Persons be meaningful. 

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Social Welfare and Social Education Minister Tinku Roy made these remarks while inaugurating the state-level International Senior Citizens Day celebrations at Muktadhara Auditorium today.

In his inaugural address, the Social Welfare Minister highlighted that seniors are the backbone of a family and should never be neglected. Their honest advice should always be sought. 

“They deserve to be respected, and this respect should begin in our own homes. Therefore, the practice of placing the elderly in old age and nursing homes — a societal issue — must be gradually eliminated," the Minister added.
He further informed that there are six homes run by NGOs in the state, and both central and state governments have undertaken initiatives for the welfare of the elderly, socio-economic upliftment of the disabled, providing nutrition to pregnant mothers, preventing child marriage, and more.

“At present, there are about 40 thousand disabled individuals in the state. UDID cards have been distributed to 30 thousand people, and allowances are being provided to 1 lakh 65 thousand 13 senior citizens,” he said.