Key Details
NITI Aayog’s report proposes bringing the currently fragmented caregiving ecosystem within a coordinated national framework. Its recommendations cover paid professionals, unpaid family caregivers and workers seeking employment in international care markets.
Demographic Pressure: The population aged 60 and above is projected to increase from 149 million in 2022 to 347 million by 2050, raising demand for long-term care.
National Policy: A dedicated National Policy on Caregiving would define institutional responsibilities and coordinate initiatives across health, social justice, disability, skills, labour and migration.
Regulatory Institution: A proposed National Caregiver Council would oversee standards, accreditation, certification, workforce planning and service quality.
Common Qualifications: A National Caregiving Qualification Framework would standardise competency-based education, practical training and certification.
Caregiver Registry: A national registry and digital portal would list certified caregivers, support service matching and incorporate background verification, grievance redressal and accountability measures.
Employment Protection: The report recommends professional recognition, fair wages, job security, insurance, sick leave and wider social-security coverage for caregivers.
Family Caregivers: Proposed support includes care leave, counselling, training, respite care and community-based assistance.
Community Delivery: Self-help groups, NGOs, Ayushman Arogya Mandirs and government health facilities could support training and extend services to underserved regions.
International Mobility: Common certifications, language training, bilateral arrangements and regulated recruitment would prepare caregivers for overseas employment while strengthening worker safeguards.
Care Demand Is Rising Faster Than Care Systems
NITI Aayog's report, Reimagining Care: Strategies for Empowering Caregivers in Viksit Bharat@2047, argues that population ageing, disability, migration and changing family structures are rapidly increasing the demand for long-term care.
Much of this responsibility continues to fall on family caregivers, predominantly women, who provide unpaid care with limited training, recognition or support. While formal care services are expanding, they remain unevenly distributed and often unaffordable. The report also highlights fragmented training, limited professional recognition, inadequate social security, caregiver burnout, weak workforce regulation and poor coordination across institutions.
The Report Proposes a National Care Architecture
The report's central recommendation is the creation of a National Caregiver Council (NCC) to provide strategic leadership for India's caregiving ecosystem.
The proposed Council would:
establish national standards for caregiver education and competency;
accredit training institutions and certify caregivers, including through Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL);
maintain a National Caregiver Registry;
support workforce planning, quality assurance and grievance redressal; and
coordinate research, innovation and international cooperation.
The report also proposes a National Policy on Caregiving, with the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment as the nodal ministry, while other ministries continue to oversee healthcare, disability, skilling, labour protection and technology.
Professionalisation Would Extend Beyond Paid Care Workers
The proposed framework treats professional, family and community-based care as complementary rather than separate systems.
It recommends expanding caregiver training to include dementia, mental health, palliative care, rehabilitation, first aid and communication. Family caregivers would receive training, counselling and mental-health support, while care leave and community respite services would help reduce caregiver burden.
The report also proposes integrating trained caregivers with Ayushman Arogya Mandirs, district hospitals and community health programmes, while using self-help groups, NGOs and digital learning platforms to expand care services, particularly in underserved areas.
Caregiving Is Envisioned as a Recognised Profession
The report recommends treating caregiving as a skilled profession with clearer career pathways, stronger labour protections and greater social security. Proposed measures include health and accident insurance, paid leave, occupational safety, access to social-security programmes, and financial support for caregiving enterprises through MSME and start-up schemes.
The report also identifies international demand for caregivers as an employment opportunity. It recommends aligning training with overseas standards, expanding language training, pursuing mutual recognition of qualifications, and strengthening regulation of overseas recruitment through agency accreditation, standard contracts, pre-departure orientation, grievance mechanisms and support from Indian missions.
What Is Respite Care?
Respite care is temporary support provided by another trained person or service so that a regular family caregiver can take a short break. It may be delivered at home, through community facilities or at health centres and is intended to reduce exhaustion and caregiver burnout.
Policy Relevance
Caregiving is framed as social infrastructure: The report treats reliable care as necessary for healthy ageing, disability inclusion and labour-force participation rather than solely as a private family responsibility.
A common institutional framework could reduce fragmentation: The proposed Council would connect training, accreditation, worker protection and service quality currently distributed across multiple ministries and institutions.
Professionalisation can improve trust in home-based care: Certification, background verification and grievance mechanisms would give households clearer information while also establishing protections for workers entering private homes.
Support for family caregivers has economic consequences: Care leave, respite services and community support could reduce the employment penalties and physical burden associated with unpaid care, particularly for women.
Community provision remains essential for equitable access: Professionalisation centred only on urban agencies would leave rural and lower-income households underserved; linking trained caregivers with health facilities and community institutions offers a wider delivery model.
International mobility requires domestic safeguards: Global demand can create skilled employment, but qualification recognition, ethical recruitment and enforceable contracts are necessary to prevent underemployment and exploitation.
Implementation will require decisions on financing: The proposed architecture establishes standards and institutions, but affordable access will also depend on how households, governments, insurers and employers share the cost of long-term care.
Follow the Full Report Here: NITI Aayog: Reimagining Care - Strategies for Empowering Caregivers in Viksit Bharat@2047