Report: Is joint family system a glory or ruin of India ? Views of Senior Citizens

Nandini Voice for The Deprived, a Chennai based NGO  invited the senior citizens  to provide  the views on the following subject  : “Is joint family system a glory or ruin of India?”

The objective of the exercise  was to ascertain the views of the cross section of senior citizens about the continued relevance of joint family system in the present day context and  inform  the consensus views of the senior citizens to the society.

The entries of the following senior citizens were selected for the award:           

            Mr. Ashok Rajan , Chennai

      Mr. K. Nallathambi, Tiruchengode, Tamil Nadu

      Ms. Nirmala Krishnaswamy, Chennai

      Mr. Ganesh .ShankerTripathi, Noida, Uttar Pradesh

      Ms. Sudha Chandrasekaran,   Coimbatore

      Mr. L. Ranganathan,  Chennai

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE  VIEWS OF SENIOR CITIZENS ON  “IS JOINT FAMILY SYSTEM A GLORY OR RUIN OF INDIA ?’”

152 senior citizens responded  expressing their views on the subject :

Number of women participants:  58

Number of men participants:  94

 

Age above 90	Age between  80 to  89	Age between           70 to 79	Age between         60 to 69
2	11	73	66

	* Yes	*   No	* Yes & No
Women	46	5	7
Men	71	6	17

*  YES   refers to those who approve  the concept of joint family, if there would be  appropriate mindset amongst the  family members

*  NO   refers to those who think that joint family system  is undesirable

 * YES & NO  refers to  those who approve the concept of joint family system but think  that  it is not feasible in today’s conditions

Of those who said that the joint family system would survive (  YES category described above) ,  55% of the participants said  that a new system is gradually evolving that would elegantly combine the merits of the joint family system and the nuclear family system in the course of time.  They are of the view that the basics of the joint family system is very strong and it is bound to survive in one form or the other.

The highlights of the views expressed by the senior citizens on various aspects of the joint family system are given below:

Is joint family system a glory or ruin?

Many senior citizens protested about the title of the competition asking them to comment whether joint family system is a glory or ruin.  

More than 90% of the seniors said that the joint family concept is unique to India  and has been practiced for centuries with great dignity and cohesion.  

The central theme of the joint family concept  is the love and affection as well as  respect for elders and overall pride in the family traditions.  These aspects should be considered as virtues of joint family  system, which have brought glory to India and admiration abroad for the Indian family system.

However, it was recognized that the joint family system  is now facing the threat of extinction due to the compulsions created by the technology advancements,  widespread educational opportunities  and women empowerment.  

Many senior citizens said  that the challenge is  how to preserve the virtues of the joint family system in the light of the changing life style.

 Changing economic and social life pattern:

The joint family system was in  vogue in traditional India , where the entire family  was focused on similar line of economic activities such as being involved in agriculture, trading , government jobs or in providing services  etc. 

In those days, the sons largely  followed the pattern of profession practiced by the father .  In such situations, it often happened , that the income have to be necessarily shared by all members of the family to ensure  optimization of  the use of resources for the livelihood.  This situation contributed to the inter dependence of the family members.

With the rapid spread of education and job opportunities , such conditions have undergone sea change in recent years with sons and daughters taking up jobs in different locations in India and abroad.  In such circumstances, living together in joint family under one roof  is no more possible. Further, with the prevailing pattern of nuclear families, living together in joint family under one roof is no more an economic necessity for many persons.

Financial  resources :

 In the yester years , senior most member of the family kept the financial resources at his command  and therefore, was recognized as the leader of the family.  

 However, these days, this would not happen in many cases , since it is often found that the son , daughter or daughter in law earn more money than the parents and grand parents themselves in many cases.

With the resources not being controlled by the senior member of the family, the grip on the leadership of the joint family  by the senior inevitably gets diluted. This invariably weakens the cohesiveness in the joint family system.

Impact of mixed marriages:

 With the social equations changing, inter caste and inter religious marriages often  take place where  it may not be possible for the couple to live in the joint family, due to the difference in the  traditional and cultural practices. 

Suppressed tensions in the joint family : 

While there are obvious merits of the joint family system, it is not as if the joint family life has been a smooth affair for everyone.  

In view of the differences in views  and  capabilities  of the individuals , conflicts of interest used to arise leading to bickerings in relationship between the family members.  There were many instances when a few family members have not been even in talking terms for length of time , inspite of living under the same roof. 

 The suppressed tension is conspicuous in several joint families affecting the harmony.

 Empowerment of women:

With the increasing educational and job opportunities for women, it is natural that such women feel empowered and want to lead a life of their own in the way that they want, instead of being mere “child bearing entities”.

There is a view that in the traditional joint family system of yester years , women’s freedom and liberty , both in thoughts and actions were  subjected to the approval of the men folk, which resulted in near destruction of the personality of women and killing their initiatives. Women were no doubt respected those days  but only in limited context.

With the advantage of  education , job , economic independence, there is reluctance on the part of women  these days to live in joint family , where they cannot realise  their own aspirations  and have to subject themselves to the dictates of joint family compulsions.

The women do not want to be anymore treated like “glorified servants”  in the joint family household .The approach of such  educated and empowered women have  been the primary driving factor towards the desolution of the joint family system.

  

Character building among children:

 With the aging process  that can develop  wisdom in individuals, senior citizens are well positioned to advise and guide the  grand children in the formative age group about the value systems in life  and the importance of personal discipline in attitude and methods.  

One of the main reasons  attributed for increasing incidence of violence and sometimes unethical and immoral conduct amongst the students at the school and college level are attributed to the  absence of the guidance from grand parents, that has happened due to the collapse of the joint family system. 

.Mindset of senior citizens :

It is not as if the joint family system are desired by all the seniors and disliked by all the younger generation.  

The fact is that many grand parents also tend to think unconventionally and want to have independent life in their ripe years  , doing  what they want to do.  They do not want to be weighed down by the responsibility of looking after the grandchildren and the households.  

While it would certainly be a pleasure for the grand parents to spend time with the children, they do not want to be reduced to the level of  “glorified servants” by their sons and daughters, merely looking  after the  grand children and “guarding” the household.  

Some seniors have pointed out that they cannot  even  go  on pilgrimage or visits for a length of time, since the grand children have to be looked after and the households have to be “guarded”.

Likely future scenario :

With the advancement of  technology and information network  and the size of the families becoming smaller, the traditional joint family system will become out of place in futuristic society.

With longevity and health conditions improving , the senior citizens will also like to live independently as long as possible.

The sons and daughters  stressed by the competitive world ,  full of challenges and opportunities  and at the same time  facing  the need to bring up their children in healthy environment with traditional value system intact, are likely to long for the virtues of the joint family system and will like to preserve it to the extent possible in tune with the ground realities.  

 At the same time, they will like to have their own independent way of thinking and approach to life and may   tend to politely turn down or ignore the advise of the seniors  if it would contradict their views.

Also , given the present  conditions, the seniors would like to live alone as long as possible till their health and finances  would permit.  When they reach a stage , when the health and finances may not permit independent living, they may find that they have no alternative other than living with their children.  In such eventuality, the elders have to submit themselves to the situation and should be careful to ensure that they would not be a  source of irritation to the sons and daughters and even grand children.. They may have to suppress their own personality to buy peace with those around..  

For the elders  in such conditions,  the alternative is to go to old age homes which will be no better.

Emerging family system :

 Sacrifice is the strongest foundation on which joint family system has been built.

 If all generations would realize this, then it would be possible to build a new  family system  where the  virtues  of joint family system  would be preserved  and the pitfalls that have emerged due to the changing  life style would be eliminated. 

The emerging system is likely to consist essentially of the people of different generations living apart (in India or abroad)  yet  getting the feeling of nearness  by constant communication and frequent visits.

Many senior citizens pointed out that the emerging system would still be different from the prevailing system in western countries , where the family system has virtually collapsed beyond certain age of sons and daughters.

The million dollar question is as to how the benefits of rearing children  in healthy manner , that would be facilitated by the  matured influence  of the grand parents,  can be ensured in the emerging system.

N.S.Venkataraman

Trustee

Nandini Voice For The Deprived

M 60/1, 4^th Cross Street, Besant Nagar, Chennai-600090

Tele:- 24916037

Email:- nsvenkatchennai@gmail.com 

Website : www.nandinivoice.org

5^th May 2012

Copyright: Nandini Voice For The Deprived &  Silver Inning Foundation 

Having A Positive Attitude In The Latter Years Of Life / Video

Having A Positive Attitude In The Latter Years Of Life / Video. Eight Faces of Age (1979) / Stewart Cheifet. This one-hour television documentary looks at eight senior citizens who are taking a positive attitude toward dealing with the later years of life. They show that the older years, while challenging, can still be rewarding and exciting.

INDIA: Young Aging Expert Sailesh Mishra Is New Editor of Seniors World Chronicle

 Mumbai-based Ravi Chawla, Founder Editor and Owner of Seniors World Chronicle, announced today that he is handing over complete charge and ownership of the Internet daily digest of international news and reports on Aging, to Sailesh Mishra of Silver Innings.  

Seniors World Chronicle.com was launched in 2005 by Ravi Chawla, who has worked all his life as reporter, editor and publisher of specialist journals. This journal has already published nearly 12,000 reports from 250 countries and attracted an estimated 500,000 visitors up to end March 2012.

Chawla is completing 75 years of age in a few weeks and has opted out in favour of the dynamic young Sailesh Mishra to continue operations of Seniors World Chronicle. 

 

 

Mishra has 15 years of hard core marketing experience and since the year 2006, has dedicated himself to work with Senior Citizens. 

 

Says Mishra: "I am Social Gerontologist by Experience and Founder President of Silver Inning Foundation, Not for Profit and 'Silver Innings,' a Social Enterprise working with Senior Citizens."

For increasingly internet savvy senior citizens everywhere,Seniors World Chronicle serves as a single source of international coverage of all issues concerning older persons. Access is free to all internet users and no registration is required.

URL: http://www.seniorsworldchronicle.com

More information from:

Ravi Chawla 91-9322 633 718

Sailesh Mishra 91-9987 104 233

 

 Source:
Seniors World Chronicle: INDIA: Young Aging Expert Is Editor of Seniors World Chronicle

Step Pad Communication Devices for Seniors : Helping Seniors use all their senses

The new StepPAD is a powerful yet easy-to-use cognitive support tool for people who have trouble completing multi-step tasks independently.

Directions that you record are played back in sequence, one step at a time, to prompt the user on what to do next. The StepPAD functions well as both a short term teaching tool and a long term adaptive aid.

The ergonomically designed StepPAD is extremely portable. It fits nicely into purse, pocket, and hands—even small ones. The navigation buttons are easy to press with your thumb—like a video game controller. Volume is adjusted on the sides of the device, within quick reach of your index fingers. There’s easy access to two core messages. Use these for especially important information or key expressions. Dual speakers help the StepPAD to be heard in a crowd. Or you can use the head phone jack to keep recordings private.

Here’s how the StepPAD works. Press any of the four activity buttons to activate a step-by-step sequence. You can label these buttons with a slide-in overlay plus a auditory cue. Users hear the steps one at a time by pressing the next button. Press play to repeat a step. Review previous steps with the back button.

StepPAD lets you record up to 30 steps per activity. There’s an eight activities capacity (four activities, two levels) yielding up to 240 step recordings. But don’t worry, it’s no big deal if you make a mistake. You can re-record any step without affecting other recordings. You can even insert a new step within a sequence while keeping all other steps intact. You can also choose to lock StepPAD into just a single activity, reducing the possibility of a user getting “lost” and locking out the record and level changing functions.


Features:
Ergonomic design
Eight activities, 30 steps each
Shared recording memory
Quick access core messages
Head phone jack
Record, level, and activity lock
Built in lanyard loops and belt loop slot




Uses:
Vocational tasks
Household chores
Personal routines
School schedule
Cooking procedures
Shopping lists
Activity transitions


Source: 
Step Pad Communication Devices for Seniors [] - $99.00 : Seniors Boutique, Helping Seniors use all their senses


This is not promotion of products , we are just informing new idea's and products available for Elders. Do take care and do detail checkup of product and company before ordering. 

Considering The Causes Driving The Success Of The Home Care Industry for Senior Citizens

 Getting older is, sadly, something none of us can do anything about. Yet choosing comfortable and compassionate care for ourselves or our beloved elderly family members is something within our control. America has a growing aging population and millions of Americans requiring regular medical care or attention are choosing to stay at home rather than move into nursing homes. More and more, they are turning to home-care franchises to help them age.

There are statistical reasons that explain the rise of home-care franchises, but there also emotional ones. The graying of America is well underway. Baby boomers, defined as people born between 1946 and 1965, are the wealthiest subsection of people on planet Earth. Every day, 10,000 people become senior citizens. By 2030, 18% of Americans will be over 65.

An aging population with financial clout means that people can be much more selective in the kind of care they choose. That is why franchises like Synergy Home Care are thriving at the moment. People no longer have to move into care facilities to receive the medical attention they require. Synergy brings the care to the customer, providing affordable, around the clock medical attention to people in the comfort of their own homes.

But don’t worry: you don’t need to be a trained health care professional to work with franchises like Synergy. You simply employ the carers while managing a business that has developed a solid reputation for empathetic, reliable home care.

As Synergy Home Care says:

Caring for an aging parent or family member can be exhausting, difficult and lonely work – but you are not alone. Thousands of families seek quality senior care every year and find comfort and relief with Synergy Home Care. We are an affordable, compassionate home care choice for family caregivers who want to keep their family members at home rather than choosing a nursing home or assisted living facility. Our attentive, dependable caregivers can offer emotional care and quality of life to your loved ones and much needed respite care for you.

 

Source:
Franchise Blog - Your Guide to Franchising: Considering The Causes Driving The Success Of The Home Care Industry

BBC News - Louis Theroux on dementia: The capital of the forgetful

Nancy Vaughan is a charming and lively conversationalist, a friendly host, and at nearly 90, still has much of the sparkle and attractiveness that must have turned many heads when she was in her heyday as a model in New York.

But she also has trouble remembering her own name, or the fact that she is married (62 years and counting), or indeed, much of the time, some of the basics of the English language.
Nancy is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's. 

On a sunny late autumn day I visited Nancy and her husband, John, at their home in Phoenix, Arizona. We made friendly conversation in the kitchen and for moments I could have believed that she was mentally well.
Her smile is still engaging, she is physically fit, and she can sometimes carry on brief exchanges. When I asked if she had any problems with her memory, she said an emphatic "no".

But when John posed the question directly "Nancy, what is your name?" she looked a bit baffled. Asked for her surname, Nancy said "Bread", a little uncertainly. I wondered whether this might be her maiden name, but was told that was Johnson.

Nancy and John's life has become surreal and stressful in many ways. John has taken to wearing a name tag with his name on it to help Nancy identify him. 

He has also stuck a copy of their wedding photo up in the kitchen so that, in her confused moments, he can prove to her that they are married.

John cares for Nancy fulltime. They have no children, so there is no family help take the strain - and they are not in the financial position to have Nancy go into a care home. 

Aged 88, John is the full-time carer for someone with many of the same needs as an adult-sized toddler.


It's reckoned that one in eight Americans aged 65 and over has Alzheimer's - the most common cause of dementia. Nearly half of the over 85s has the disease. As medical science has become better and better at prolonging our lives, the mental side of things hasn't kept pace.

Nowhere is this more in evidence than in Phoenix. For years Phoenix has been a mecca for America's elderly, who are attracted by the year-round sun and dry desert heat.

Now increasingly it is a kind of capital of the forgetful and the confused.

Not coincidentally, Phoenix is also pioneering the way dementia sufferers are cared for and treated.
One of the top destinations for people in need of round-the-clock care is Beatitudes, a gated retirement complex, which has, tucked among its many buildings, a memory support annex.

Most of the residents at Beatitudes have seriously impaired memories, to the point where they can no longer look after themselves, are quite often confused, and occasionally have delusions.


Click here to Read More:
BBC News - Louis Theroux on dementia: The capital of the forgetful

A fragile india, handled with care

Is the country doing enough for its elderly, dying and homeless? Shreevatsa Nevatia meets the providers and recipients of care to find out .

Not everyone is fortunate enough to be cared for, and not everyone witnesses the manifestations of this truth quite as often as Mona Mishra. Mishra is an administrative officer with Silver Innings, an initiative to help improve the lives of senior citizens by providing care and advocacy, by facilitating workshops and through services such as dementia management. Mishra also works as a counsellor in the organisation, and in some cases, a care-giver.

For reasons of confidentiality, she chooses not to disclose the name of a successful writer who has now settled in the West, but starts by talking about his mother who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years ago. “When I went in, all I found was a woman with a single question — ‘I had spent most of my life looking after him, where is he when I need him most?’ For four months, we just made either eye or hand contact, and then came a day when I had to perform an enema on her. She was embarrassed, but that broke the ice.” In the years that have followed, Mishra’s relationship with the 80-year-old have deepened to an extent that she is keenly aware of its implications. “There are, of course, times when she considers me to be a substitute for her son.” And then with a wide grin, she adds, “Do you know what makes me really happy though? Taking this lady from her old-age home to a beauty parlour. You should see her face after a manicure and pedicure. It’s priceless.”

There have been times when Mishra has said ‘enough’. She remembers calling a son after his mother had passed away, asking if he’d return for her last rites. “He asked me to do the needful and inform him of the expenses. I came very close to depression around then.” Unlike much of the West, where the social services are now an accepted interventionist tool and where carers are a professionalised workforce unto themselves, the issues surrounding care, more specifically care-givers in India, are little known. Mishra talks about the different roles she has to play in her varied capacities. “The senior citizens who I meet ... I have to mail their children every week. In some cases, its emotional support that I need to provide, but in other cases its things like looking after diet charts and hygiene. And when I go to the slums, it’s even more basic ... getting them to use toothpaste and getting them to keep their homes clean.”

NOW ON LIFE SUPPORT

It is perhaps difficult to find a better representation of care being administered amongst the disadvantaged than in the offices of Jeevan Aadhar Seva Sanstha (JASS) in Khar. The organisation works with the destitute and the homeless in Mumbai. Sandip P Purab, JASS’ secretary, says, “We started with wanting to care for those who were in desperate need of life support. We find people on the streets, bathe them, take them to a hospital, and rehabilitate them.” Working on the street, adds Purab, is not that easy a task. “You don’t get that much support from the police and you get no support from the people.” With this, Purab begins to play some video clips of the work JASS has done. He can be seen hunched over a man’s leg on a pavement, cleaning an open gash of a wound swarmed with maggots. The question seems obvious. What compels him to do what he does? “Just want to sleep well at night,” he quips.

The JASS office is a rented mezzanine with a tin roof. On the other side of green curtains are three beds that together double as a makeshift ward. Michael D’Souza is 65, and was between drug habits when he ended up near Victoria Terminus. After being brought in by JASS and nursed back to health, he says, “I survived. That’s why this institution works.” Ever since JASS was founded in 2007, it has largely been provided for by the fund-raising capacities of Sandip Purab. “We never went to the government,” he says. But Purab does confess that models of self-sufficiency do come with their limitations and that he himself has had to feel the pinch.

 

DOING IT RIGHT

Dr Leena Gangolli, a family physician and a public health consultant, has found herself associated with varied aspects of care. First through home and health care for the elderly, and then with projects that deal with palliative care, situations where patients and their families have to cope with the ramifications of a life-limiting diagnosis. Making the case that the government’s responsibility must exceed beyond its budgetary allocations and extend to providing palliative care for children and the youth, she refers to the Constitution and points to the safeguarded rights to equality (article 14) and life (article 21). She says,"The government needs to understand that unlike building infrastructure like highways and sea-links which require raw materials and equipment, delivery of care requires people as the main raw material. Human resource is our biggest advantage ... there is no dearth of people in India who could be trained to deliver such care."

A need for a greater strengthening of care in the palliative sector was also reiterated at the Tata Memorial Centre, where associate professor Dr Manjiri Dighe works in the Department of Palliative Medicine. According to her, “There is a large demand coming from the families of patients who are dying, and from doctors like oncologists. But have a look at the number of specialised physicians in the state. There are maybe 10 or 15, just these small islands of care. And that is far from optimal. Far from what you’d get to see in places like the UK.”

 

A LEAP OF FAITH

Most of the patients that come to the Tata Memorial are impoverished. Fifty-year-old Priya Ubale is a housekeeper and waste activist who has now been volunteering with the hospital for the last four years. After all this time, she says, “You stop believing in God when you begin to realise that the blight isn’t cancer, it’s poverty.” Questions of faith often surface at the Bhakti Vedanta hospital, where Dr Vineeta Sharma has been part of the Department of Palliative Care since 2008. Though the hospital was formed and runs on the principles of the Krishna-worshipping ISCKON community, religiosity is never an essential component of care, informs Dr Sharma. She says, “It is patient-oriented. There are those who don’t want to talk about God. Then there are those who do.” Narayan Shetty, 75, seems to belong to the latter category. Suffering from liver cancer, he says he only feels fear when the pain in his body becomes excessive. It is at points like those, he says, while pointing to devotional literature he has borrowed from Dr Sharma, “do the doctor and these books help in forgetting.”

Niranjan Parikh and Narayan Shetty are both of the same age. For a large part of the last twenty-five years, however, Parikh has dedicated an early retirement to working with children, cancer patients, those with brain tumours and those in need of palliative care. There are several stories that the counsellor at Tata Memorial can recount. A girl being as dismissive of an amputation as she would have been of a lost plaything. A terminally ill teenager drawing a girl with a balloon and writing ‘life is an ice-cream’ below it. Doesn’t any of this rattle Parikh himself into feeling a certain fear? He comes closer and says, “Not for a minute. It is absolutely inevitable. What will I tell the people I counsel, if I’m scared of death myself.” If there’s one thing that Parikh says he wants to prove about care-giving in India, it’s simply this — “it’s never too late to start”.

As reported by : Shreevatsa Nevatia : n_shreevatsa@dnaindia.net

 

 Source: 15th April 2012 DNA Mumbai Edition Newspaper:  http://epaper.dnaindia.com/epapermain.aspx?edcode=820009&QuickEdition=yes
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