CM reviews draft Keralam State Elderly Persons (Care and Protection) Bill

Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan | Photo Credit: R.K. Nithin Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan on Tuesday chaired a high-level meeting to review the draft Keralam State Elderly Persons (Care and Protection) Bill 2026.The Bill will ensure the care, welfare, dignity, and the rights of the elderly in the State.The State government will complete procedures related to the Bill and go ahead with the legislation soon, the Chief Minister, who also handles the portfolio of elderly welfare, said.Against the backdrop of the changing demographics in the State, the Bill aims at creating an elderly friendly system that promotes healthy and active ageing. Its other objectives include facilitating the stay of the elderly in their own homes in a familial-social environment and ensuring safe and quality care for them when needed. It will also contain provisions to ensure responsibility and quality for services such as elderly care centres, assisted living facilities, day care centres (Pakal Veedu), and home care for the elderly.One of the thrust areas is transformation of the care giving sector into a professional set-up. For this, a ‘Kerala Geriatric Care Certification Framework’ would be prepared, training would be given to care givers, and certification and background checks would be done in order to prepare a State-level register of trained care givers.Job opportunitiesBesides enhancing the quality of elderly care, it would help create a cadre of trained care givers and ensure new job opportunities, a statement from the Chief Minister’s office said.The government would also give priority to development of silver economy that links the increasing needs of the elderly with financial-job opportunities. Development of a sustainable elderly care sector that covers service, skills, entrepreneurship, and employment by promoting quality care-giving services and technology, health care, assisted living, home care, elderly friendly products is its objective.Special careThe Bill envisages State-and-district-level mechanisms for effective implementation of law, monitoring, and grievance redressal and includes provisions for digital-financial safety and support for the elderly who need special care.The Chief Minister stressed that Keralam should gear up to address the challenges faced by the elderly and utilise the possibilities that lay therein. Published - September 15, 2026 09:07 pm IST