Supreme Court asks petitioner seeking exclusive Ministry for senior citizens to approach Government

Supreme Court allows petitioner to seek dedicated Ministry for senior citizens in India due to growing elderly population.

The Supreme Court of India on Friday (January 20, 2025) allowed a petitioner seeking the creation of a dedicated Ministry for senior citizens in the country to make a representation before the government.

A Bench headed by Justice P.S. Narasimha, who light-heartedly said even judges were part of the senior citizen age group, told petitioner-advocate G. Priyadarshini, represented by senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan and advocate Rahul Shyam Bhandari, the court cannot intervene or direct the creation of an exclusive Ministry.

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Highlighting the necessity of a separate department or Ministry for the elderly, Mr. Sankaranarayanan said India may have one of the largest ageing population in the world.

“It is imperative to have an exclusive Ministry/exclusive department that can cater to the policies, schemes, financial assistance, health care requirements, pension, etc. This unprecedented rise in the ageing population, if not categorically handled by an exclusive Ministry/specific department, shall have detrimental implications in health, economy and in the societal structure at large,” the petition said.

It submitted that the India Ageing Report 2023 ‘Caring for Our Elders: Institutional Responses’ said there were 149 million persons aged 60 years and above in 2022, comprising around 10.5% of the country’s population (which amounts to 14.9 crore).

“By 2050, the share of older persons will double to 20.8%, with the absolute number at 347 million (34.7 crore),” the petition quoted from the report.