The Protection and Welfare of Senior Citizens: A Comparative Study of Laws in India and Other Federal States

Every year, the first day of October is celebrated as International Day for Older People all over the world. Old age is an inevitable part of human life which makes a person usually weak, more vulnerable and prone to diseases. Therefore, elderly need a lot of care, attention and assistance throughout the day. The population of elderly is rising rapidly throughout the world and similar patterns of hardship and abuse of senior citizens are being observed in most countries. This paper deals explains and analyses various legal steps taken by the Indian government for the protection and welfare of senior citizens of the country, especially those who are alone and abandoned by their children. The main provisions are provided in the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizen Act, 2007 wherein the legislators ensured that children do not run out of the responsibility of their old parents who depend upon them. We shall restrict our study to main legislation governing laws relating to elderly. We shall also analyse the proposed amendments to the Act through the Amendment Bill of 2019 which widens the scope of welfare and protection of senior citizen. The paper shall also constitute of a comparative study relating to elderly laws of different federal states including USA, Australia, Pakistan, and Japan which demonstrates a unitary form of government.