Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala government has initiated the process of setting up a commission dedicated to taking care of its senior citizens.
The Kerala assembly passed the Kerala Elderly Commission Bill, 2025 earlier this week. The commission will issue necessary guidelines for the welfare, protection and rehabilitation of the state’s elderly population. The commission will also provide necessary legal aid, whenever needed, for senior citizens.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that this is the first such initiative across the country, where a state is trying to take care of its elderly population.
Kerala Governor Rajendra Arlekar had promulgated the Kerala Elderly Commission Ordinance on 19 December, 2024. The new bill, tabled in the Assembly in January this year, will replace the ordinance.
An official in Higher Education and Social Justice Minister R. Bindu’s office told ThePrint that the government will notify the setting up of the commission once the bill gets the nod from the governor. The commission will also examine the scope to utilise the skills of healthy senior citizens, besides looking at their welfare, the official added.
Chief Minister Vijayan said that the commission will be the continuation of the several welfare measures for senior citizens that were undertaken during his previous term (2016-2021).
“The commission will prioritise addressing the hardships faced by the elderly, including neglect, exploitation and loneliness. It will be responsible for providing the necessary guidelines to tackle these issues,” Vijayan wrote in a Facebook post Thursday.
The state government currently offers a Rs 1,600 monthly pension as part of the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme for people aged 60 and above with an annual income of Rs 1,00,000 or less.
The bill assumes significance as those aged 60 years and above are projected to make up 22.8 percent of the total population in Kerala by 2036, according to United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)’s India’s Ageing Report, 2023.
The southern state had the highest count of senior citizens in 2021, constituting 16.5 percent of the total population, followed by neighbouring Tamil Nadu (13.7 percent).
According to the report, there are 149 million people aged 60 years and above in India, as of 1 July, 2022. These comprise around 10.5 per cent of the country’s population, which is expected to double to 20.8 percent by 2050—347 million.
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Functions & objectives of the commission
According to the Kerala State Elderly Commission Bill, the statutory body will have a chairperson, and up to three members with mandatory experience with respect to senior citizens’ welfare. One of the member positions will be reserved for women, and another for Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.
An officer not below the rank of an Additional Secretary will be the secretary of the commission, and another not below the rank of Joint Secretary in the law department will be appointed the registrar, the bill says. The tenure of the members of the commission will be fixed—three years.
The functions of the commission will include coordinating with various departments in the state bureaucracy to ensure the welfare and protection of the elderly population. The commission will also advise the government regarding programmes to be planned for the same.
The commission will also take necessary action to bring abandoned or orphaned elderly to care centres. In case of any violation of rights, it will conduct an inquiry, prepare a report, and inform the relevant authorities for further action, besides facilitating legal aid assistance, if necessary. The commission can also conduct an inquiry on complaints received from prisons or lock-ups, where elderly people are detained, and submit reports to concerned authorities.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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