Annamma Jacob has been living alone in a 12-room, 2-storey house for many years in Kumbanadu, a town in the state of Kerala, where low population and declining fertility rates pose various problems. Many towns have turned into ghost towns inhabited only by the elderly due to migration caused by work and education. In Kumbanath, only 50 children study in a government school due to the low number of students. The 8 teachers working here spend their own money and carry various additional burdens to enroll new students in the school, going door-to-door to ensure enrollment. Kumbanadu’s population is declining, and 15% of the houses in the region are locked due to migration abroad for work and education. Its aging population is evident in its 3 old age homes, over 30 scan centers, and a government hospital. Homes in the area are equipped with CCTV cameras instead of guard dogs, and crime is rare due to low wealth and valuables kept in homes. However, elderly people are cheated by their relatives or domestic servants, who forge their signatures and withdraw money from banks. The police’s main focus in the area is looking after the elderly, visiting 160 isolated homes to ensure their safety, and providing mobile alarms in some houses.
image source, ARUN CHANDRA BOSE
Annamma Jacob has been living alone for many years in a 12-room, 2-storey house
While India has overtaken China as the most populous country in the world, some problems arise due to the low population in some parts of the country.
The number of women getting pregnant there is lower than average. Some towns have turned into ghost towns inhabited only by old people due to migration due to work and education.
The BBC’s Saudhik Biswas traveled to Kumbanadu, a town in the state of Kerala. This town is facing various problems as only the elderly people live there.
Teachers in search of students
image source, ARUN CHANDRA BOSE
Only 50 children study in a government school in Kumbanath
Over the years, schools in a particular part of Kerala have been facing an unusual problem. These schools have very less number of students. Teachers spend their own money and carry various additional burdens to enroll new students in the school.
50 students study in a 150-year-old government middle school in Kumbanath. The number was around 700 until the late 1980s. Most of them belong to poor and humble families.
Class VII has the highest number of students with only seven students. In 2016, there was only one student in this class.
It is a challenge for these teachers to bring enough students to the school. All the 8 teachers working here spend 2,800 rupees per month from their own salary for the students. This amount is spent on autos that transport students from home to school and then home in the evening.
Teachers go door to door to ensure enrollment in schools. Even some private schools in the region send teachers home to enroll students. The largest school here has a maximum of 70 students.
The middle school was quiet, with none of the sounds of students studying in regular schools. There were teachers teaching lessons to some children in dark, quiet classrooms.
“What can we do? How can the number of children be high in this largely uninhabited town,” said Jayadevi, the headmaster of the school.
He is right. The population of Kumbanadu, located in the heart of Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, is declining. Also, the number of elderly people is high here.
Vast landscape – empty houses
image source, ARUN CHANDRA BOSE
15% of the houses in Kumbhanadu region are locked due to many people staying abroad for education and work.
47% of the population here is under 25 years of age. Two-thirds of the town’s population was born in the early 1990s.
About 25,000 people live in half a dozen villages in and around Kumbhanadu. About 15% of the 11,118 houses here are locked.
Because the owners of these houses have migrated abroad for work, education and other reasons. A few parents live with their son/daughter who lives abroad, says Asha CJ, president of the local village council.
Asha said that there are 20 schools here, but only a very small number of students.
A government hospital, over 30 scan centers and 3 old age homes in the town indicate an aging population.
More than two dozen banks, including eight within half a kilometer, compete to transfer remittances from people living abroad.
About 10% of the USD 100 billion remittances sent to India from Indians living abroad last year went to Kerala.
Based on the 2001 and 2011 censuses, Kerala had the lowest population growth in India.
The average life expectancy of people born in Kerala is 75 years. India’s national average is 69.
Displacement and background
image source, Getty Images
Female fertility in this part of Kerala has also been declining for the last 30 years. Here, on an average, a couple has only 1.7 to 1.9 children.
With a small family, parents ensure that children get the best education possible. As a result, young people who complete their studies leave their parents at home and migrate within the country and abroad for job opportunities.
“They migrate with the aim of getting education, work and a better lifestyle,” said KS James, a professor at the Mumbai-based International Population Institute.
“Only elderly parents live in homes in their hometowns, and many of them live alone.”
Behind the tall metal security gates of her two-storey house in Kumbanath, 74-year-old Annamma Jacob has lived alone for years.
Her husband, a mechanical engineer in a public sector oil company, died in the early 1980s. His 50-year-old son has been working in Abu Dhabi for more than 20 years. His only daughter lives a few kilometers away. But her husband has also been working as a software engineer in Dubai for over 30 years.
There is no one in Annamma’s house next door either. One locked up his house and took his parents to Bahrain. Another rents out their house to an elderly couple after moving to Dubai.
The vast landscape surrounding the house is full of cassava, banana and teak trees. Amidst the lush green landscape, many beautiful houses with sprawling courtyards lie vacant here. Their sidewalks are strewn with dry leaves that have fallen from the trees.
With no man to drive, cars parked in front of houses are covered in dust. CCTV cameras have now taken the place of guard dogs.
Loneliness is companion
image source, ARUN CHANDRA BOSE
Unlike other Indian cities where the roads are densely populated, we can see the opposite scenario in Kumbhanath.
Unlike many towns that are devastated by natural calamities such as famine and floods, the city of Kumbhanadu does not stand in ruins. Houses here are repainted every year. But those for whom they are cleaned and painted often never come.
“It’s a very lonely life. I’m not feeling well either,” said Annamma Jacob.
Despite heart disease and arthritis, Annamma has traveled abroad to spend time with her son and grandchildren. He has also spent holidays with his children in Jordan, Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Israel.
Objects strewn about her living room give us our understanding of her interactions with the world. Imported paracetamol tablets, pistachios, cashew nuts, paper flowers in Chinese-made goojas, and imported body wash bottles were found there.
I asked why you built a big house with 12 rooms to live alone. “Everybody builds a big house here. It means status,” he said.
Although alone at home, Annamma spends most of the day tending crops including cassava, banana, ginger, sweet potato and jackfruit. He said that in my free time, I meditate and read the newspaper. He has a dog named ‘Diana’ as his companion.
Some days I will only talk to Diana. She will understand me.”
Complicated aging
Suffering from heart disease and diabetes, Sacco Mammon grows bananas in his small plot of land. The 64-year-old returned home after working as a salesman in Oman for over 30 years. He closed a small business he was running because he could not find enough people to work for him.
Now, after much effort, he grows and sells about 10 kg of bananas daily from his land. “I can’t pay a single worker,” he said.
Creating employees in an aging society is always difficult. Even the migration of foreign workers is not always fruitful. Sometimes due to mistrust of outsiders. Annamma said she did not want to hire a migrant.
“I live alone. What if they kill me?” Annamma gets scared.
What is the job of the police?
image source, ARUN CHANDRA BOSE
Police provide emergency alarm devices to seniors living alone in homes
In this region full of elderly people and locked houses, the crime rate is very low.
Police said thefts are rare because people don’t keep a lot of money and valuables in their homes. They couldn’t remember the last time there was a murder here.
“Everything is very quiet. We only get complaints about cheating. Elderly people are cheated by their relatives or domestic servants, who forge their signatures and withdraw money from banks,” said Sajeesh Kumar, chief inspector of the local police station.
A year ago a relative of the old man had forged a signature and cheated about Rs 1 crore. Last year, the police arrested 4 people belonging to a financial institution who cheated people to raise funds by offering high interest rates. “This is the biggest crime in this area,” Sajeesh Kumar said.
“Without this, petty crimes such as family feuds, ex-littering, tree branch growing inside the neighbor’s house are common here,” he said.
In the absence of crime, the police spend most of their time looking after the elderly. They visit 160 isolated homes to ensure their safety.
Also, mobile alarms have been provided in some houses to alert the neighbors in case of emergency. In 2020, an elderly woman was beaten and collapsed on the floor after breaking down the door after no one answered.
“We took him to the hospital. After treatment he recovered and returned home. One of our jobs is to shift old people to nursing homes. We take them to doctors to check their health,” said the police inspector.
Shortage of nursing homes
image source, ARUN CHANDRA BOSE
Aging is one of the major problems in the Kumbha Nadu region
“Old age is the only problem here,” said Thomas John, a priest who runs a geriatric center in Kumbanath.
Alexander Marthoma Memorial Geriatric Center at Kumbanath is a 150 bedded five storied hospital. There are more than 100 local residents who are aged between 85 and 101 years.
Most of them are bedridden. His family abroad pays 50,000 rupees every month to maintain them.
“With most of the families living abroad, there is no other option but to move very old parents to nursing homes,” said Pastor John.
Another nursing home nearby admitted 31 over-60s last year alone. As this number increases every year, a new building is constructed there. Many people are on a waiting list as many come forward to admit their parents to the 60-bed nursing home.
Ailing elderly, nursing homes, labor shortage, youth migration, declining population, vacant houses are turning the towns of this region into ghost towns.
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