Why Elderly People Don’t Prefer to Claim their Maintenance from their Children?

There are about 104 million elderly people (aged 60 years or above) in India; 53 million females and 51 million males, and is expected to increase to 323 million, constituting 20 per cent of the total population, by 2050. The population of the older persons in India is continuously increasing, according to Population Census 2011. Therefore there is also an increase in the number of elderly abuse by their children and relative’s reason behind this lies the fact that there is a changing social scenario in terms of modernization which is influencing the interpersonal relations in a negative manner resulting in the emergence of nuclear families in India at a rapid rate. The present paper is a study conducted to explore the underlying reasons why elderly people do not prefer to claim about their maintenance from their children. Interviews were conducted with a sample population of 20 elderly people currently residing at an old age home in north Delhi, India. The findings clearly indicates that the underlying issues lies with the fact of stigma attached to it, social norms, non-interference in familial matters, unemployed children, rigid beliefs and values system, and many more.