Steady Increase in the number of aged persons is appearing as a major issue in modern India. Ageing population has been increasing more rapidly in rural areas, owing to the exodus of males from our villages giving rise to ‘feminization of farming’. Due to rapid migration of young women as will, it is now becoming ‘geronto farming, farming taken care off largely by older women. Women have more serious health problems, suffering not only from ailments specific to ageing, but also from ill health accumulated over the life cycle which may manifest in old age in an aggravated form. Older women in rural areas remain particularly vulnerable. Study of human ageing by suing anthropological skills is a field offering considerable challenge and potential for future research in ageing because anthropologists are well equipped for such cross-sectional research focusing on the interaction between biological and cultural influences. Recapitulating population trends in our country, there being more women in older age brackets, the authors have made an attempt to portray the general prevailing health conditions and examine bodily age changes among two groups of rural women of North-East India having the same broad genetic make up but exposed to different environmental settings. The results embodied in a wealth of data vividly portray the manifestations of physical health condition and morphological age changes in older Meetei women of Manipur and Assam. The effects of migration and urbanization, particularly an older women’s physical health and their physical attributes are the highlights of the study. This book merits essential reading for gerontologsts, anthropologists, demographers, sociologists, social workers and policy planners.
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