OASIS

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OLD AGE SOCIAL & INCOME SECURITY

The least noticed of the destitute in India are the elderly. Millions of elderly in India are trapped in misery through a combination of low income and poor health.

The traditional support structure of the family is increasingly unable to cope with the problem. In a world where the joint family is breaking down, and children are unable to take care of their parents, millions of elderly face destitution. The emerging demographic profile and socio-economic scenario of the country indicate that matters will worsen dramatically in the years to come.

While there is a need to initiate poverty alleviation programs designed to support the elderly, the gigantic dimensions of the problem defy an easy solution. The steady elongation of life expectancy and declining birth rates are inexorably taking us towards an India where there will be such a large number of aged persons, that a poverty alleviation programme, which aims to pay even a modest subsidy would require a staggering expenditure much beyond the capacity of the government.

In this situation, the Government realises that poverty alleviation programmes directed at the aged alone cannot provide a complete solution to the problem. Faced with such large numbers, it is apparent that the problem will have to be addressed through thrift and self-help, where people prepare for old age by savings accumulating through their decades in the labour force. The role that the Government can play in this enterprise is to create an institutional infrastructure to enable and encourage each citizen to undertake this task.

Project OASIS, the first comprehensive examination of policy questions connected with old age income security, took birth in this background. The basic mandate of the Project is to make concrete recommendations for actions which the Government of India can take today, so that every young person can genuinely build up a stock of wealth through his or her working life, which would serve as a shield against poverty in old age.

It is interesting to note that India already has a high contribution rate to the provident fund system from amongst salaried employees in large establishments. The challenge therefore is not so much to ask workers to save more but to convert high saving rates into old age security. To this end, the Report of Phase-I of the Project recommends: (a) limit early withdrawals, (b) deploy superior financial portfolio management and information system, so as to obtain higher rate of returns, (c) expand the coverage of existing provident fund systems so as to reach more workers, and, (d) improve the customer service of the existing provident fund systems.

The topicality of the Project OASIS is enhanced by the fact that 1999 is being observed as the International Year of Older Persons. The Chairperson of the Committee, Dr. Surendra A. Dave, former Chairman of Unit Trust of India, and the members of the Committee have done well to have produced the Report of the first phase of Project OASIS in a short time-frame. The Project is being ably coordinated by the Invest India Economic Foundation.

Project OASIS is a project of national importance and we should all put our minds and energies to the task of rapidly converting the Committee's recommendations into reality.

Maneka Gandhi
Minister of State (IC)
Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
Government of India
01 February, 1999

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