Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

Significant

The Union Cabinet's approval for the introduction in Parliament of a bill to promote the interests of senior citizens (Feb. 23) is significant. Provisions for revoking wills and taking back property given as gifts to children, the establishment of separate outpatient departments in hospitals for the aged and sensitising the police on the need to protect them are really commendable. But the clause that provides for imposition of fine and imprisonment of children who abandon their parents may not achieve the desired result.

Neither the children nor the parents would welcome such forced love and care. Love and affection for parents should be spontaneous and natural, and cannot be created by threat of punishment. The care the Government can extend to the senior citizens will do more good than that of an unwilling child.

J. Eden Alexander,
Thanjavur

The bill can be counted as one of the most important steps taken by the Government for the welfare of senior citizens. The clause providing for the prosecution of children is welcome, though one would have liked the punishment to be more severe. The neglect of senior citizens is becoming a serious social problem.

Krishna Kumar,
Ahmedabad

The proposed bill is welcome though belated. It is sure to provide relief to lakhs of aged parents neglected by their children. The punitive measures should bring some change in children who blissfully forget that they too will age one day.

Laws, however, cannot bring the desired change unless there is a fundamental attitudinal transformation among children.

Harish Betha,
Mangalore

The bill is a step in the right direction. But nothing will change just because a law is in place. It is important to have an effective mechanism for implementation. There is need to allay the fear that the law will not be counter-productive to the interests of the aged.

H.P. Murali,
Bangalore

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Significant

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