One day before the Inauguration, participants from all across the country had assembled to present papers on various Perspectives on Ageing in India. On the basis of discussions, major recommendations emanated as under:

• Organise elderly and set up National body with appropriate linkages with UNO and other International Societys/Federations.

• Establish National/Asian Institute on Ageing with different centres in different part of India.

• Establish study Centres/cells for Population Ageing in Universities and Social Science Institutions.

• Meaningfully utilise retired teacher/army personnel and other elderlies; ceating awareness in society regarding problem of population Ageing; educating society for reviving our traditions and enhance employment opportunities and work for engagement of elders. A realisation needs to be created among the people that they are wanted by family and society and that their services are needed somewhere.

• There is a spurt in recent years in the formation of senior citizens Society''s with no intraction between each other. There is a need to bring all such organisations under one umbrella.

• Progressive and enabling Indian values of life and repect for elderly should be active promoted. Their sustenance and revival can be made through incorporating relevant chapters and stories in text books from classes I to XII.

• Develop reliable database on heath status, morbidity and disability among elderly in terms of sex, locality and socio economic status in India.

• Strengthen the existing public health system of health care. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare may be persuaded to open separate counters in hospitals for the elderly.

• Introduce and encourage the concept of geriatric care in hospitals, medical colleges and other similar training institutions.

• Encourage greater participation of NGOs in care of the elderly and management of day care centers in urban and rural areas.

• Provide short term training facilities for paramedical, social and community workers of various categories to enable them to take better care of elderly persons.

• Creating awareness about schemes of social security for elderly, especially in rural areas and promotion of new schemes.
• Old age pension schemes and insurance system should be extended in urban and all rural areas of India to cover vulnerable groups of older persons.

• The settings up of a National Board for the care of the aged on the lines of National Children Board or the National Commision for the Older Persons on the lines of National Commission for Women.

• Government of India should introduce identity cards for elderly as a part of social security system.

• There is an urgent need to create an elder-friendly infrastructure sooner than letter if problem of the older persons are to be resolved. These included concessions, without any precondition and facilities in railways, bus services, air travel with particular reference to mechanical elevator at main railway stations, design and development of buses that facilitate easy boardings and getting down and the like.

• Care of old destitute women and widows need special consideration and proper steps should be taken by the Government of India to devise programmes/schemes for support of such women especially of the destitutes.

• The old-age homes in many cases are leading to isolation, alienation and resultant psychological problems. This should be avoided by combining these with orphan and homes for destitute children.

• Many olders persons especially young old are found willing to enter into second carrer. Therefore, they are to be supported by organising short duration training courses. This task can be better attended by social science institutes and to take a lead in this direction, G.B.Pant Social Science Institue, Allahabad may be requested to consider this dimension.

• The cost of the medicines useful in mitigating miseres of old people needs to be kept low as far as possible.

• The Ministry of Social Justice, a nodal organisation in the Govt. of India to overview the polices and programmes for the elderly, should play more active role in organising and empowering the old and to ensure by suitable measures impementation of the provisions of the National Policy of the Older Persons.

Inaugural Conference Images: