Financing young and elderly dependents: The case of Indian public policy

In this paper the author explores the monetary benefits of young and elderly dependents under the public policy that introduced age into the National Accounts of India, the framework of the National Transfer Accounts. The results of the study indicate that the net monetary gain of young dependents is more than seven times higher than that of elderly dependents. It is suggested that there is a need to reorient the country’s fiscal policy in order to meet the demand for sustainable social security in the face of impending population ageing in the decades ahead. A desirable policy strategy would be to convert all social assistance programmes into a single long-term national social security programme, the scope of which would encompass various aspects of intergenerational equity, raise the level of entitlement to match actual need and make national social security a universal programme.