national conferences and seminars
National seminar on empowerment of women with focus on Old women, 1998
The Government of India Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD), Department of Women and Child Development sponsored this National Seminar on Empowerment of Women with special focus on elderly women in 1998.
First National Seminar on Widowhood in India with focus on Elderly widows, 2002
This was a fall out of the women empowerment seminar organized in 1998 and was one of the recommendation of that seminar (to highlight vulnerable women). It was funded by ICSSR. The seminar attracted much attention at the All India level and especially from the National Women’s Commission. Delegates from several State Women’s Commissions and women leaders and intellectuals from both academic and professional fields from all parts of India attended the Seminar. Selected papers of this seminar have been published under the title Widowhood in Modern India (2006).
First Seminar on Abuse of the Elderly in India, 2004
The seminar was funded by ICSSR, among other sponsors. This was the first seminar on elder abuse at all India level and naturally evoked much attention from all parts of India. In fact, the enthusiasm generated by this seminar was responsible for CGS to decide on undertaking research study on the same title.
Seminar on the International Day of Older Persons, 2005
The Centre jointly with the Government of Kerala organized the celebration of the International Day of Older Persons on October 1, 2005 where the Chief Minister addressed the Public Meeting. The meeting was preceded by a whole day seminar on the problems and needs of the elderly in Kerala. The papers and discussion mainly centered around the Draft State Policy on Older Persons which was on the Government website at that time. The cost of the event was jointly shared by both CGS and the Government of Kerala.
National Consultation on Empowerment of Older Women, 2011
Older women stand in a separate category among the old. The majority of them are widows who have their own problems. In all societies, there is gender discrimination. Women have health problems which are different from those of men. Compared to men, they are poor for two reasons. In most countries property and inheritance laws are loaded against women. Since most of them do not work in their younger days as they are fully immersed in domestic work; they are very poor and have no savings. Hence old women are at a quintuple disadvantage – being women, being old, being widows, being poor and being unhealthy. Taking these points into account the Centre organized a National Consultation on Empowerment of Older Women. In fact, this Consultation was an extension of an earlier Conference (National Seminar on Empowerment of Women with Focus on Old Women – 1998). The Consultation was co-sponsored by UNFPA, National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). It was attended by over 120 delegates. The Conclusion and Recommendation of the Consultation highlighted the need to empower old women through various measures with focus on health and wellbeing.
National Colloquium on the Aged and the aging in India, 2017
The problem of aging is still an unresolved one in a major part of the world including India. To be sure, most countries now have recognized the problems contributed by an increase in the proportion of their aging population and the need to take early and positive action to resolve them. The United Nations also have come in a big way to address the problem. Taking all these into consideration, and noting the further fact India has not yet turned round the corner in the matter of old age care, CGS organized a National Colloquium which attempted to solve the two issues of where do we stand in the matter of aging and how should we proceed to resolve the problem. The Colloquium was co-sponsored by the Government of Kerala. We had around 150 delegates attending the Colloquium. Since most of these problems were being handled by governments, the Colloquium had, among the delegates, a number of government officials engaged in aging programmes. The conclusion and recommendations of the Colloquium were promptly sent to all State Governments and other stakeholders for implementation.
The report containing the conclusion and various recommendations obtained during the Colloquium can be downloaded here.
State and Local Level Seminars conducted by the Centre
Innumerable seminars, workshops, study groups, discussion groups, colloquia and consultative meetings were organized by CGS periodically to highlight the causes and concerns of the old. Among them, special mention is required for the latest in the series – a consultative meeting on the Draft Rules on the recently enacted Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act 2007 which was organized in collaboration with the Human Rights Lawyers’ Forum of the State in August 2008.
