Around 90 per cent of the elderly people in the Dhaka city slums are being subjected to mental torture and 40 per cent of them are physically assaulted by family members including sons, daughters, spouses, sons-in-law and daughters-in law.
Also 83.3 per cent of the elders, with women leading the number, are victims of negligence and 54.4 per cent are of economic deprivation.
Dhaka University’s population science department on Thursday disclosed the findings of a research conducted lately among 450 respondents from four slums of the Kalyanpur, Rayer Bazaar and Agargaon areas.
Population science department professor AKM Nurun Nabi read out the report in a seminar at the university’s Nabab Nawab Ali Chowdhury Senate Bhaban.
However, 31.1 per cent of the respondents sought for old-age allowance from the government and 22 per cent whished if their sons would get a good job for family maintenance.
It was learned in the research work that elderly people — 60 years or more — are physically abused for their inability to provide money (around 10 per cent), inability to work (8.4 per cent), and for other reasons including not following orders of family members, low income and inability to give dowry and asking for money from family members.
The report showed that sons (18.9 per cent), daughters-in-law (15.8 per cent), spouses (10.9 per cent), sons-in-law (around three per cent) and also daughters (2.2 per cent) abused the elder physically, sometimes with hand, stick, push and shove and kicking.
It further indicated that the physical abuse might include bodily injury, physical pain or impairment, mental abuse includes anguish, pain or distress while financial and material exploitation include illegal and improper use of their funds, property or assets.
The research report predicted that the number of elderly people would be 44.10 million (20.2 per cent of total population) by 2051 which was 9.77 million (6.5 per cent of the whole) in 2011.
The population science department and HelpAge International Bangladesh jointly carried out the study between May 28 and June 12 this year.
The department chairman, Mohammad Bellal Hossain, chaired the seminar also addressed, among others, by HelpAge International Bangladesh country director Nirjharanee Hasan.
Courtesy of New Age
