 bill no  2  of  2008 the constitution (amendment) bill, 2008 by shri ck chandrappan, mp a billfurther to amend the constitution of indiabe it enacted by parliament in the fifty-ninth year of the republic of india as follows:—short title1  this act may be called the constitution (amendment) act, 2008 statement of objects and reasonsthe parliament has recently enacted a well intentioned legislation namely, 'the maintenance and welfare of parents and senior citizens act, 2007' the enactment provides for entitlement of maintenance to a senior citizen including parent who is unable to maintain himself from his own earning or out of the property owned by him against one or more of his children not being a minor, and in the case of a childless senior citizen against his relatives who would inherit his property failure in fulfilling this responsibility by the children or relatives would attract punishment neglected parents have been given the right to get legal remedyone of the glaring shortcomings in this enactment is that it would only benefit the senior citizens who are rich enough to own property for the poor, who own no property, the enactment provides that the states may establish old age homes in a phased manner, at least one such old age home in each district, to accommodate senior citizens who are indigentthere is a large number of poverty stricken people in our society whose income is so small that they are not in a position to take care of their own minimum needs in such a situation, it is not reasonable or realistic to expect that they would take care of their old parentsit would be proper if the gram panchayats are constitutionally empowered to take care of the welfare of the senior citizens if that is done, the centre and state governments would be responsible to extend financial support to the scheme of building old age homes and to provide sufficient infrastructure to meet this stupendous taskthe bill seeks to provide that the task of maintenance and welfare of senior citizens including running of 'senior citizens homes' and 'day care centres' for senior citizens be handed over to gram panchayatsit would provide an opportunity for senior citizens to live together, enjoy the facilities for recreation, food and medical care at one place it would help our society to be more humane towards the senior citizensthe bill, if enacted, will go a long way to strengthen the institution of local self government and meet the aspirations of the people at village levelhence this bill new delhi;december 6, 2007ck chandrappan annexureextract from the constitution of india       eleventh  schedule (article 243g)      26 social welfare, including welfare of the handicapped and mentally retarded 27 welfare of the weaker sections, and in particular, of the scheduled castes and the scheduled tribes        lok  sabha———— a billfurther to amend the constitution of india————(shri ck chandrappan, mp)mgipmrnd—155ls(s5)—06-02-2008