Human Rights Of Older Persons In India: Accessibility Challenges And A Doctrinal Analysis
- IJLLR Journal
- Jul 2
- 1 min read
Dr. Mandeep Kaur, Associate Professor, School of Law, Mahindra University, Hyderabad
ABSTRACT
India is undergoing a profound demographic transition that is converting a predominantly young society into a rapidly ageing one. As the share of persons aged sixty and above advances towards one-fifth of the population by the middle of the century, the question of how the legal system secures the “basic human rights of older persons” acquires fresh urgency. This paper offers a doctrinal analysis of the constitutional, statutory, policy and judicial framework that governs the rights of older persons in India, situated against the international and comparative human rights architecture, and critically examines the structural barriers that obstruct the effective accessibility of those rights. “It contends that the principal challenge confronting elderly rightsin India is not the absence of legal protections but the failure of existing institutions to ensure their effective accessibility and enforcement”. Tracing the constitutional anchorage of these rights in Articles 21, 41, 38, 39(e) and 14, and analysing “the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act”, 2007 alongside general maintenance law and the network of welfare policies, the paper identifies financial insecurity, healthcare deficits, elder abuse, ageism, weak implementation, the feminisation of ageing and growing digital exclusion as the principal obstacles to rights-realisation. It concludes by proposing a dedicated, rights-based statutory and institutional response, including a comprehensive “Elder Rights Act” and a “National Commission for Older Persons”, capable of recognising older persons as autonomous rights-holders rather than as passive objects of welfare.
Keywords: Older Persons, Human Rights, Senior Citizens Act, Article 21, Ageism, Rights Based Framework.
