Kerala to build ward-level support network for elderly, backed by digital vulnerability maps
The Kerala government has decided to set up a neighbourhood-level support network for older persons, reaching from the ward level up to local self-government institutions, to create a stronger social support mechanism for the State's elderly.
Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan announced the plan recently, saying the network would ensure that a neighbourhood pays attention to its elderly residents and their needs. Digital data on older persons, and on how vulnerable each of them is, will be maintained ward by ward. The Chief Minister observed that the number of elderly people who require special attention is not large, which makes focused attention to each of them possible.
The network will be built using the Kudumbashree mechanism, the State's network of neighbourhood women's groups that works closely with local bodies. It will identify and assess the needs of older persons who require particular attention — those who live alone, those who are bed-ridden or differently abled, and those who are economically or socially marginalised. It will then connect them to government services and welfare schemes and provide coordinated support at the local level during emergencies.
Vulnerability mapping will be carried out in every ward. On the basis of those assessments, the services to be provided to each person will be decided and individual support plans drawn up. The network will use a 'service directory' listing emergency and referral services, and a 'digital dashboard' to monitor activities.
According to an order issued by the newly formed Department of Senior Citizens, the network will work in coordination with local self-government institutions, the Health department, Kudumbashree and voluntary organisations. It forms part of the government's 100-day action plan.
The United Democratic Front (UDF) government had announced a dedicated department for senior citizens as the State grapples with a steadily rising ageing population.
The context is not difficult to see. Kerala has one of the highest shares of elderly people in the country — roughly one in six residents is above the age of 60, a proportion projected to rise further in the coming decades. Decades of migration for work, both to other States and to the Gulf, mean that a large number of older people live away from their children. Chronic illness, limited mobility, the loss of a spouse and shrinking incomes add to their difficulties, and the isolation of living alone can turn a manageable health problem into an emergency.
Kerala already runs a number of welfare schemes — pensions, health care through primary health centres and palliative care programmes — but officials and social workers have long pointed out that eligibility on paper does not always translate into help at the doorstep. A ward-level network that knows who lives where, and who needs what, is intended to bridge that gap. Kudumbashree workers, who already conduct surveys and run neighbourhood-level activities, are seen as the natural link between a government scheme and a bed-ridden person living alone.
Several details, however, are not yet public. The plan does not spell out the funding that will be available to each ward, the number of care-givers to be recruited, or the timeline for covering the entire State. Data protection for the digital records being compiled will also need attention, as will the training given to those who visit older persons and the arrangements for cases where a family is unwilling or unable to help.
The plan matters beyond Kerala because the State's demographic curve is widely seen as a preview of what much of India will face in the coming decades. Whether it becomes a model for other States will depend on how well it works at the ward level, where resources and capacities vary widely.
