The shame of Lanka--elders hopelessly roaming our streets

In our country, we see them here, we see then there, we see them nearly everywhere -- old people at street corners, bus stops, hanging around eating houses and at every traffic light in the city. Begging for money to buy a morsel of food. Somebody’s mother or father Destitute, homeless, with nowhere to go.

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But we hurry along, too busy to notice these forgotten people. Many of them were once productive workers who kept our economy ticking and turning over. But we in this country, by its very Constitution claiming to be democratic and socialist, and with a citizenry comprising Buddhists, Hindus, Christians and Muslims among others, do little or nothing to support those who built the foundations of our society.

The elderly comprised 12.4 per cent of the total population in 2012. It increased to 16.4 per cent by 2022. By 2042 it is expected to rise to between 50% to over 60%. According to the Department of Census and Statistics (DCS). nearly one in four persons in Lanka today is over the age of 60.

A majority of our population belong to the agricultural community. The DCS reported that in the fourth quarter of 2023, 26.5% of employed persons were engaged in the agriculture sector. Most of these folk do not own the land they toil on, be they farmers or workers on the tea, rubber and coconut estates in our country.