title: Senior grassroots organizations in India.
abstract: Organizations for the elderly at the grassroots level began to function in India from the third decade of the 20th century. They belong to two major types: Pensioners' Associations (PAs) and Senior Citizens' Associations (SCAs). PAs claim a membership of approximately 13 million and are structured and vertically organized. The SCAs are loosely organized and most are unitary. They have together a membership of less than 5 million. Programs of PAs are mainly confined to members; those of SCAs are wider but mainly urban-biased and middle-class oriented. Neither of them is powerful in lobbying. Of late, Government of India's (GOI) policy on the elderly (NPOP, 2000) has given a fillip to the SCAs which are gathering strength, and some, at least, are vying for availing GOI program benefits.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Gerontological Studies, Kochulloor, Trivandrum, India. pkbnayar@bigfoot.com
authors.forename: P K B
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Nayar
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D009938:Organizations; D011640:Public Policy