Bill for elderly soon: Meira

THE UNION Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Meira Kumar, said that the Union government was considering to introduce a bill for the elderly persons, over 60 years of age, in Parliament soon

THE UNION Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment, Meira Kumar, said that the Union government was considering to introduce a bill for the elderly persons, over 60 years of age, in Parliament soon. “

HT Image

The government is concerned about the welfare of aged persons who fall victim to their family members’ apathy due to conversion of joint families into nuclear ones in the modern times. The bill will safeguard the interests of aged persons like their security, health and economic survival,” she said.

Addressing a gathering of lawyers on the occasion of her felicitation by the Central Bar Association at the collectorate here on Saturday, she said it had come to light that parents after legally assigning their property to their sons, were treated in a very inhuman manner by them. Under the provision of the bill, the property assigned to sons would be reverted to parents if sons did not take care of them properly.

Commenting on the much-hyped reservation for women, without naming any political party, she said some people were creating hurdles in its passage in Parliament for their vested interests. But the Congress had been fighting for it from the very beginning.

It was Rajiv Gandhi who ensured participation of women on the ground level by providing them reservation in panchayat elections. It changed the social scenario of illiterate rural women throughout the country, she added.
She said the Women’s Reservation Bill was introduced by the Congress in Parliament, but it could not be passed. She stressed the need for its acceptance by consensus