Draft Policy Advocates ‘Kerala Model’ for Elderly Care

Speedy Summary

• Kerala State Policy for Elder Persons, 2025 aims too establish a ‘Kerala model of ageing’ focused on elder welfare.
• Local self-governments will play a central role in planning, resource mobilisation, and service delivery for elderly care.
• Key features include strengthening home and community-based care systems (ageing in place) and long-term caregiving networks.
• Families will recieve financial assistance, training resources, and emotional support for caregiving responsibilities.
• Local governments will maintain databases of eligible elders, prepare annual status reports with inputs from elder neighbourhood groups (ENHGs), and create action plans tailored to vulnerable individuals.
• A dedicated cadre under the Social Justice department will oversee programmes at local levels; minimum 10% of local government budgets must be allocated to elder care initiatives.
• Volunteer technical corps at various administrative levels will provide expertise and recommendations on improving elder care infrastructure.
• The state government plans periodic “state of Elderly Reports” every five years to analyse demographic trends and address service gaps effectively.
• Training programs for family caregivers are proposed along with infection control guidelines and chronic health management protocols.
• Respite homes, block-level short-stay centres, expanded community centres like ‘Pakalveedu’ & vayo Clubs aim to ease caregiver stress in underserved areas.
• Doorstep delivery systems for essential services such as pensions, medicines, housing support schemes were emphasised.

Indian Opinion Analysis
Kerala’s draft policy introduces a bold vision addressing the escalating demand for elderly welfare amidst rising demographic pressures from ageing populations. By integrating local self-governments into its framework as key players rather than dependents on centralised structures alone-there’s likely an improvement both in accountability reflecting directly grounded insights into societal needs locally but also interconnected services scaling over-federal contrasts across sectors especially towards moving trials tackling states eg unpredictable challenges financially+ social