By IANS
New Delhi : The Rajya Sabha Thursday unanimously passed the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Bill, 2007, that seeks to protect senior citizens and makes neglecting parents above 60 years punishable by a fine and imprisonment or both.
The members praised Union Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Meira Kumar for bringing the bill, which has already been passed in the Lok Sabha.
It was a moving sight when Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) member Gyan Prakash Pilania, who came in a wheel chair to support the bill, broke into tears and spoke passionately, thanking Kumar for her efforts to alleviate the sufferings of the elderly who are neglected and harassed by their children.
“There was an old fruitless mango tree in the courtyard of a man who had himself become old and invalid. One day his sons and grandsons got together and decided to pull down the tree for uselessly occupying space. The old man beckoned to them and told them, ‘even if this tree is not giving you any fruit, it is at least providing you some shade from the sun, why pull it down?'”
“The children did not heed his plea and pulled down the tree to make way for a fresh plant. That is the plight of the old people today,” he said.
Pilania said: “There are some inadequacies in this bill but the very fact that you thought of the neglected and harassed old people is very good and this indeed is a noble act on your part.”
Another frequent critic of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government Eknath Thakur of Shiv Sena spoke in the same vein. He said: “I join the house in congratulating the honourable minister and the government of India for bringing this bill which will enable our parents to lead their lives respectably.”
Thakur remarked that he is an orphan, “My parents died when I was barely two years old. I am an entirely self-made man, working in a shop and studying together.” But he wondered how those who have parents could be disrespectful and cruel to them.
Nand Kishore Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, which is generally critical of the goverenment, said: “I rise today to support this bill, and the way the whole house is reacting it is clear that this bill will be passed with no opposition.”
Yadav said: “It is a sad day for India and a reflection on the degeneration of Indian culture that we have to pass such a law to protect the old and ageing parents from their children and relatives and provide for their maintenance.”
AIADMK member C. Perumal said, “Life is moving so fast that no one has time for ageing parents,” supporting the bill wholeheartedly.
The only jarring note came from BJP supported independent member Tarlochan Singh, who ridiculed the government for bringing the bill.
He said: “Why bring in this bill. The government should learn from western nations and the Communist countries who have built enough old age homes. This bill unnecessarily exposes that we don’t care for our ageing parents. It will not solve any problems but will only add to the problems of the state governments. Instead, the government should have a policy for the old and aged,” said Singh, former chairman of the National Minority Commission.