Maharashtra Governor K Sankaranarayanan today gave a piece of advice to senior citizens telling them not to bequeath their entire life’s savings to children.
“Give the best of education to your children. And that’s it. Do not give your entire life’s savings to your children. Save it for yourself,” said the Governor.
The Governor was speaking at the 44th annual function of ‘Swajan’ a non governmental organisation of retired government officials, in Mumbai on Saturday (19th February).
Mentioning that the grey population of India is growing, the Governor said much attention is needed to the welfare of the elderly and senior citizens than what is being given at present.
Sankaranarayanan observed that although Indian society has traditionally respected the elderly persons, the same was now declining on account of the collapse of the joint family system and the arrival of nuclear family.
He said there are growing reports of neglect and abuse of elders at the hands of their children and relatives. “I know of families who have forced their parents to live in out house and car shed”, he said. The Governor called upon Non Governmental organisations to work in the area of providing social security to he elderly persons. He expressed the need to create more old age homes, day care centres and mobile medical units to provide services to older persons.
Former Director General of Police A.N. Roy was among those felicitated by the Governor on the occasion. Chairman of ‘Swajan’ and former Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai Karun Chandra Srivastava also spoke on the occasion.
Raj Bhavan, Mumbai.
20 February 2011.
PRESS RELEASE
Detail Speech :
Address by H.E. Shri K Sankaranarayanan, Governor of Maharashtra at the 44th Annual function of 'Swajan', a socio-cultural organization, at Birla Matoshree Sabhagriha, New Marine Lines, Mumbai at 7.00 p.m. on Saturday, 19 February 2011
Shri Sanjay Nirupam, Member of Parliament, Shri K C Srivastava, Former Municipal Commissioner of Mumbai and Chairman of Swajan, Shri P. M. Srivastava, Vice Chairman, office bearers and volunteers of Swajan, families, ladies and gentlemen…
I am indeed delighted to associate myself with the 44th annual function of Swajan.
Sawjan has been doing commendable work in areas like education of poor children in tribal areas, empowerment of the handicapped, medical care and others.
I am told, a large number of serving and retired officials of Government and the private sector are associated with the organization as volunteers.
I congratulate Swajan and all those associated with the organization for their services to society and especially to the poor, the needy and the handicapped.
I also congratulate the eminent personalities who were honoured today for their services to society.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The voluntary sector is playing an increasingly important role in social development worldwide.
Many government agencies today use voluntary organizations as the preferred instrument for delivery of their services or for enhancing public awareness of their programmes and activities.
According to rough estimate, more than 7000 voluntary organizations are working in different areas of healthcare in India alone. I strongly feel that there should be proper coordination in the work of various NGOs so that more people are benefited by their good work. This will also avoid duplication of work by voluntary organizations in some areas.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I wish to highlight two areas where Swajan could focus its energy and resources. My first area of concern is welfare of senior citizens.
Advances in medical science have led to increase in the average life expectancy of India's population. As a result the grey population of the country is increasing. Much attention is now needed to the welfare of the elderly and senior citizens.
Indian society has traditionally respected the elderly people. However with the collapse of the joint family system and the arrival of nuclear family, respect for the elderly is disappearing.
There are growing reports of neglect and abuse of elders at the hands of their children and relatives. It is the moral duty of the nation and society to ensure a dignified life to senior citizens.
While financial security of the elderly is important, equally important is their social security.
We need more old age homes, day care centres, mobile Medicare units, etc to provide services to older persons. The Government of India supports such initiatives coming from NGOs, and I hope, Swajan will think of working in the area of welfare of the elderly and senior citizens.
The second issue I wish to highlight today is about the welfare of tribals.
India has a tribal population of about 75 million, which comes to 8.08 per cent of the total population. Tribals are considered to be socio-economically the most disadvantaged group. The benefits of globalization are still to reach large sections of our tribal population.
Three major problems of tribals are livelihood issues, education and health. The literacy rate among the tribals in the country is low and it is below 50% in the case of tribal women. The drop out rate of the tribal girls is as high as 77% by the time they reach 10th standard. Much more needs to be done to enable tribal girls to continue their education.
This is another area where well-meaning organizations like Swajan can supplement governmental efforts.
I wish to inform this gathering that the Government of India is in the process of creating a special cell in the Governor's office to oversee the work of tribal welfare in the tribal areas of the State. I am sure, collective efforts by Governments, NGOs and civil society will make a difference in many such areas.
With these words, I commend the work of ‘Swajan’ and wish the organization success in its good work.
Jai Hind! Jai Maharashtra !!
No comments:
Post a Comment