Deblina Dey

The book, tentatively entitled ‘Ageing, Law, and the Politics of Care in India,’ is a socio-legal study in which I will examine the sources of distress and experiences of obsolescence in late life in the light of changing familial dynamics in urban India. I will discuss the interventions made by the state, the market, and other philanthropic institutions to mitigate the conditions of distress. Such distress is related to the abuse, neglect and/or loneliness faced by older people, in most cases, due to dysfunctional familial relationships. The study elucidates the juridical, commodified, institutional, and medical models of care in a neo-liberal and rights-conscious Indian society. The book will also highlight the limitations of each model in the way they address the care needs of older people. I have used qualitative research methods of multi-sited ethnography, and interviews, and conducted focus group discussions with different categories of older people and their caregivers. I have also analysed Supreme and High Court judgments, complaint letters written by older people and Tribunal and mediation orders. Analytical frameworks from legal and medical anthropology as well as sociology of care have informed the arguments that I will proffer in the book.