| Sumario: | Purpose This paper presents a brief overview of the situation of the elderly in India and policies relating to them. Method It examines the possible large-scale social and technological developments appropriate for health and wellbeing of the elderly in India. Results & Discussion Formal sector pensions as social security and technological inputs for individual assistive aids and health care, cater to the needs of the elderly of the urban upper and middle class in India. Social security provisions for the majority, despite large sized public programmes, involve noncontributory pensions providing minimal subsistence to a fraction of the rural and poor, only minimal access to health care and that primarily curative, as well as minimal provision of free food grain1. The creation of institutional care through old age homes can only be a partial solution, primarily for those with special needs.
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