Benchmark age for senior citizens

Finance Minister AMA Muhith's proposal to raise the age limit from 60 to 65 for senior citizens does otherwise look innocuous. But its import may not be so innocent. Its impacts on millions are expected to be telling. True, life expectancy of the country's population has touched the 70-year mark. But it does not mean that people above 60 years of age from different segments of society stay fit or remain active. In general sexagenarians start complaining different physical ailments including blurred vision, renal complications, osteoporosis, high or low blood pressures, diabetes and the likes. Among people belonging to the labour class, the majority prematurely become old and infirm. Many of them even die before reaching the 60 years' mark. Raising the benchmark age by five years will deprive many of any privilege seniors are entitled to. So far as material benefits are concerned, there is hardly anything with which they are rewarded for the recognition in this uncaring society. At least the recognition should not be usurped.

The Finance Minister leads a very active and healthy life. For an octogenarian, his is a remarkable dossier. Men like him are exceptional. If only a significant portion of the citizens of Bangladesh were like him! Recognising seniority of citizens has its symbolic values. They must be treated as old guards for their wisdom and experience and in certain situation honoured in public. Bangladesh is in a transition period so far as the stages of its economic and technological developments are concerned. At a time like this, the old moorings must not be snapped in order to produce a generation of robotic humans. People above 60 years of age deserve courtesy from the young people, which unfortunately is not the case. That youths smoke right on the face of a sexagenarian is discourteous, so is the intimate discussions between a young couple within the earshot of such a person of advanced age. Not many young men today vacate a seat for an old and infirm person in a bus.

There is no point asking a man or woman of 60 or above years of age to stand in queue for tickets or any other public service. Institutionally, this type of facilities should be extended to senior citizens. If a person aged between 60 and 64 is denied some privileges, his or her miseries will be compounded. Maybe, at the upper and affluent levels of society the problem such persons encounter can be overcome; such people in this age bracket have supports to fall back upon. But those at the lower levels of society are not equally fortunate. They need institutional and social help.

So, the proposal for redefining seniority of citizen should be brought in a wider perspective for further analysis. In fact, senior citizens mostly get informal recognition in this country. This recognition is not so much in their interest as it is in the interest of the nation. In fact, they leave a legacy based on reverence for the elders which benefits the generations to come. Today's youths will turn old one day and at that time they too will expect similar social equation from the younger population. The 60-year slot for seniority should not be challenged.