Decision making behaviour of elderly tribal people at household and community level in rural eastern Uttar Pradesh, India

The power to take decisions is extremely important from the view point of empowerment of elderly because it is often seen that their voice is not properly listened. The decision making power of elderly should not be ignored. The real development of tribal community cannot take place without active participation of elderly. In the present study, we examined in order to explore and better understand the status of elderly tribal people decision making behaviour at Household and Community level. Three Districts had been selected for the study the composite index of development was the basis of the selection of districts from rural eastern Uttar Pradesh and the required minimum sample size was 417. Results shows decision autonomy is very low and not congruent with the desire of many elderly tribal people. However, this elderly tribal people did not make use of living wills as a means of indicating their wishes.