NITI Aayog calls for national caregiving framework, social security for caregivers
NITI Aayog released a report titled "Reimagining Care: Strategies for Empowering Caregivers in Viksit Bharat@2047", examining India's caregiving ecosystem against global models
The report recommends a dedicated National Policy on Caregiving and the creation of a National Caregiver Council to regulate and accredit caregivers and standardise training and certification
It calls for a National Digital Caregiving Portal to connect trained caregivers with care-seeking households, along with financial incentives and entrepreneurship support to expand the caregiving workforce
Recommendations include introducing care leave for employees supporting dependent parents and expanding social security coverage for both formal and informal caregivers
The report was released by the Vice-Chairperson of NITI Aayog and frames caregiving policy as necessary preparation for India's ageing demographic transition
NITI Aayog — Role as a Policy Think Tank
NITI Aayog (National Institution for Transforming India) replaced the Planning Commission with effect from 1 January 2015, marking a shift from a centralised five-year-plan, fund-allocating model to a policy think-tank model that issues recommendations and roadmaps rather than binding financial allocations to states. Reports like the caregiving framework are advisory outputs — NITI Aayog itself has no statutory power to implement them; that requires action by line ministries, state governments or Parliament.
Key Details
- Established: 1 January 2015, replacing the Planning Commission (which had operated since 1950)
- Composition: Prime Minister as Chairperson; a Governing Council comprising all state Chief Ministers and Lieutenant Governors of Union Territories; a Vice-Chairperson appointed by the PM; up to four ex-officio members from the Union Council of Ministers; full-time domain expert members; and special invitees
- Functions as a recommendatory and coordinating body, not a statutory fund-disbursing authority — distinguishing it from the erstwhile Planning Commission's role in allocating Plan funds to states
Because NITI Aayog's caregiving report is advisory, its recommendations — the National Caregiver Council, care leave, and the digital portal — would need to be taken up and operationalised through legislative or executive action by the relevant ministries (such as Social Justice and Empowerment, or Labour and Employment) and states before they take legal effect.
India's Ageing Population — The Demographic Case for a Caregiving Policy
India's population aged 60 and above is projected to grow sharply faster than the population as a whole over the coming decades, driven by rising life expectancy and declining fertility. This demographic shift is the central justification cited for building a formal, regulated caregiving ecosystem rather than relying primarily on informal, unpaid family care.
Key Details
- Per the UNFPA's India Ageing Report 2023, the share of the population aged 60+ is projected to roughly double, from about 10.5% in 2022 to about 20.8% by 2050
- The absolute number of persons aged 60+ is projected to rise from around 149 million (2022) to approximately 347 million by 2050
- The elderly population is projected to outnumber children (aged 0-14) by around 2046, while the working-age (15-59) share of the population declines
The scale of the projected increase in India's elderly population underpins NITI Aayog's argument that informal family caregiving alone will be insufficient, and that a professionalised, regulated caregiving workforce — with training standards, certification and social security — needs to be built well ahead of the demographic peak.
Constitutional and Legal Basis for Elderly Welfare
Support for the elderly in India rests on a Directive Principle of State Policy rather than a directly enforceable fundamental right, supplemented by a dedicated statute that creates a legal (not just policy) obligation on children to maintain elderly parents. NITI Aayog's proposed National Caregiving Council and care leave provisions would sit alongside, rather than replace, this existing legal framework.
Key Details
- Article 41 (Part IV, DPSP) directs the State, within its economic capacity, to make effective provision for public assistance in cases of old age, among other contingencies — it is non-justiciable but guides policy
- The Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007 creates a statutory Maintenance Tribunal before which a senior citizen unable to maintain themselves can seek a maintenance order against children or relatives, with a maximum monthly maintenance amount of ₹10,000 and provision for imprisonment of up to one month for non-payment
- Existing government elderly-welfare measures include the National Programme for the Health Care of the Elderly and the more recent Atal Vayo Abhyuday Yojana, an umbrella scheme for senior citizen welfare
NITI Aayog's proposed National Caregiver Council and care-leave recommendations would add a formal, professionalised layer of support that current law does not provide — the 2007 Act addresses maintenance (financial support) and family obligation, but does not regulate or professionalise paid caregiving as a workforce.
- Report title: "Reimagining Care: Strategies for Empowering Caregivers in Viksit Bharat@2047"
- Released by: NITI Aayog Vice-Chairperson (August 2026)
- NITI Aayog established: 1 January 2015, replacing the Planning Commission (est. 1950)
- India's 60+ population share: about 10.5% (2022) projected to reach about 20.8% by 2050 (UNFPA India Ageing Report 2023)
- India's 60+ population count: about 149 million (2022) projected to reach about 347 million by 2050
- Elderly projected to outnumber children (0-14 years): around 2046
- Maximum monthly maintenance order under the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act, 2007: ₹10,000
- Constitutional basis for state support to the elderly: Article 41 (Directive Principles of State Policy)