Aging in South Asia: theoretical issues and policy implications

The World Assembly on Aging in October 1982 will focus the attention of the world on the situation of the aged in industrialised and developing countries. The papers in this monograph have emerged from the Asian Regional Confer ence on Active Aging which was sponsored by UNFPA and Opera Pia International. The Indian Social Institute was re sponsible for selecting the delegates from South Asia and for the presentation of their papers at the Conference in Manila in January 1982. This Asian Regional Conference was envi saged as a preparation for the NGO meeting in Vienna in March 1982 at which delegates were to be chosen for the UN Session in October. This monograph presents the version of the papers which appeared in the special issue of Social Action in January 1982. Though these papers present exten sive census and research data on the aged, the concern is primarily with their social, economic, cultural and political significance. It will be noticed in the analysis that the situ ation of the aged in India, Nepal and Bangladesh is not necessarily worse than it is in industrialised countries; it is certainly different. This difference cannot be understood apart from the socio-economic and cultural factors which determine the situation of the aged in the countries of South Asia.