President Paudel Stresses Intergenerational Knowledge Transfer and Elder Care

Kathmandu. President Ram Chandra Paudel has stated that the new generation should be able to benefit from the knowledge and skills of the senior citizens of the society. He expressed this view while addressing the International Conference of Senior Citizens organized by Manmohan Smriti Pratishthan here on Saturday.

"For this, I believe that arrangements should be made for the new generation to acquire the good practices of the work and actions of senior citizens through curriculum or interaction, and to engage physically capable and willing senior citizens in suitable work and connect them with production, and to ensure their mandatory representation in policy making related to them at the national level and in community-level activities," said President Paudel.

He suggested the government and all others to take steps by making mature policies and practical action plans with a long-term vision in this regard. President Paudel said that Nepal's population is also gradually moving towards old age. "There are challenges in the country to provide desired employment to the youth and working population within the country, in such a situation, I am confident that Nepal will also have opportunities to learn from other countries for the effective and productive management of senior citizens," he said.

It was his view that it is the right of senior citizens to eat and wear healthy materials and to receive health treatment services when needed. He emphasized that they should be able to interact with people of the same age or anyone else, and live their lives as established as possible within the family. "News of senior citizens shedding tears in the latter part of their lives due to urbanization, foreign employment of the younger generation, family intolerance, and other reasons, can move anyone's heart," said President Paudel.

President Paudel expressed his best wishes for the success of the conference, suggesting that this conference could become a bridge for intergenerational transfer of knowledge and skills and for the blending of the previous and later generations according to the population situation.

He stated that Manmohanji was a simple and modest leader, the first elected Prime Minister of communist politics in South Asia. "Along with BP Koirala, the ideological pioneer of Nepal's democratic movement, Manmohanji and several other leaders participated not only in Nepal's but also in India's freedom struggle, which is why leaders like Manmohanji are respected not only in Nepal but also outside the country," he said.

Recalling that Manmohan, a liberal communist leader, believed that cooperation between these two forces was necessary to end the autocratic Panchayat and establish a multi-party democracy in Nepal, despite ideological differences between Congress and Communists, President Paudel recalled the contribution made by Manmohan along with Jananayak BP, Ganeshman Singh, and Kishunji in favor of the multi-party system in the referendum, facing criticism from radical communists, and paid heartfelt tribute to them.

Recalling that his government, under his prime ministership in 2051 BS, had arranged a monthly old-age allowance for citizens who had reached old age for the first time in Nepal, President Paudel said that senior citizens are a special class of society who have served the nation in the past and now require relatively more basic facilities.