Outlook – July 20, 2019

PHOTO ESSAY

A burgeoning elderly population poses

challenges for predominantly young India

text: Siddhartha Mishra

photographs: Jitender Gupta

A

LPHA, omega, tau, proclaim the

signs on the highway. Beyond the

Greater Noida sectors named after

Greek alphabets, a dirt underpass

branches off from the spanking

Eastern Peripheral Expressway

to the dusty village of Bisaich. It is located

on the fringes of the National Capital

Region, but is a world apart from the

neighbouring upscale sectors.

However, Bisaich, which gets power supply

for only half the day, has something in com-

mon with Japan and Scandinavia—many

of its residents are old or getting there. In

the courtyard of a house close to the Baba

Mohan Ram temple, eight men between

50 and 70 sit around a hookah, immersed

in animated conversations. When asked

about the elderly population, they estimate

that three out of 10 people in the village are

above the age of 60.

Sadi Ram, a 74-year-old farmer who has

On the

Edge

of Age

44 OUTLOOK 22 July 2019