Role of Businesses in Care of Older Adults: A Sociological Exploration

Abstract

Census 2011 estimates that India has 104 million older people, constituting 8.6% of the total population. The United Nations has projected that India will be having almost 19.6% of its total population as older people. This rising population of older adults has led to growing concern about their health and care. However, given the resource limit of the state, other players such as businesses, civil society and NGOs have to play a vital role to have a concerted effort for their care. Efforts of the businesses can be traced from the contributions done under the corporate social responsibility (CSR) policy. Companies Act 2013 directed the companies of certain profitability to spend at least 2% of their average net profit of preceding three years on the sectors specified under schedule VII under section 135. Schedule vii contains a list of development sectors for which the companies can spend their CSR budgets and elder care is one among the mentioned areas under it. In this context, the paper attempts to understand how businesses can share the responsibilities of the government for the amelioration of the marginalised sections of the society by specifically studying its role over the older adults. Therefore the objective of the paper is to explore the budgetary allocation of companies for the welfare of older adults under their CSR hence evaluating the role of businesses for the cause of older adults. The current study is exploratory and descriptive in nature and it has used the secondary data from the CSR portal of the ministry of corporate affairs.

Keywords: CSR, Companies Act 2013, Older Adults, NGO, Civil Society

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