The Republic of Uzbekistan since independence in 1991, abandoned totalitarian, administrative-command planning and distribution system and has chosen its own model of development.
The Uzbek model of development, based on the five principles of reform and economic renewal developed by President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov, has set the course for the transformation of our country for many years to come. Establishing a system of social protection based on a firm legal foundation is a main priority. The human being and his or her life and dreams, hopes and concerns are the central focus.
At the initiative of President Islam Karimov, the year 2015 has been declared the Year of Reverence and Care for the Senior Generation in the Republic of Uzbekistan. This measure is based on the age-old values of our people, and its purpose is to express due respect and provide comprehensive support to people of advanced age, in keeping with the aspirations and desires of our society. At a ceremony to mark the twenty-second anniversary of the Constitution of Uzbekistan, the President emphasized that attention and genuine concern for the elderly are among the primary determinants of a society’s level of cultural development.
Steady improvements in the social sphere serve as clear indication of the thoroughgoing work that has been done in Uzbekistan to provide for the social protection of the people. Dynamic and balanced economic development is the basis for progressive improvements in the standard of living and quality of life.
In this connection, in order to provide comprehensive support for the elderly, more than 11,618 billion sum were allocated from the national budget for pension payments last year alone, as well as more than 105 billion sum for benefits. Those who participated in the war or laboured on the home front receive assistance each year in the form of free medical care, treatments at sanatoria and health resorts, and other necessary support.
This year, activity to develop the social sphere and ensure targeted social assistance to single elderly people, pensioners, persons with disabilities and needy families is continuing to increase in scope. The national program for the Year of Reverence and Care for the Senior Generation, adopted under the Presidential Decision of 18 February 2015, will shape the implementation of these benevolent actions. The program aims at further raising the standard of living and quality of life for the elderly, increase the scale of material and moral support, enhance social, pension and medical services for the elderly, particularly for war and labour veterans who served during the period from 1941 to 1945, and expand the role of the elderly in raising up young people in the spirit of values and traditions of our people that stretch back for centuries.
In this regard, recently, the Head of Uzbekistan adopted a decree «On measures to further strengthen the social support of veterans of war and labor front of 1941-1945», according to which veterans of war and labor front of 1941-1945 will have the right to get free rate of improvement in health establishments of the Ministry of Labor and Social protection of the Republic of Uzbekistan, in the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions and at the government and economic management of the country once a year, within a reasonable time frame for them.
Uzbekistan is home to more than 2.8 million people over the age of 60, 225,000 people over 80, 44,000 – over 90, and 8,700 have stepped up a 100th anniversary. Most importantly, the number of elderly people is increasing. In the years of independence, the average age of the population increased from 67 years in 1990 to 73.5 years, and specifically women – to 75.8 years. It should be emphasized that there are 3109 participants of the Second World War and 69,994 veterans of the labor front among them.
Approximately 6.5 million people had lived in Uzbekistan on the eve of the war in 1941, 1.5 million of which took a direct part in battle. That is to say, if we discount infants and children, men and women of age, over 40 percent of our population got engaged in the war with arms in their hands. About 500 thousand, or 30 percent of all those of our countrymen in the war were killed.
Today, thanks to the independence, all of those who survived in the terrible years of war live in peace and prosperity.
Uzbekistan pays great attention to all veterans who courageously fought on the frontline, as well as those people who honestly and conscientiously worked on the home front.
Full attention to the veterans and the elderly people show many of NGO’s, as the foundation «Nurroniy» and the Council of the Federation of Trade Unions which implementing financial and moral support to them. In Uzbekistan has been created nursing homes «Sahovat» and «Muruvvat». Overall in 2014, in 15 health centers, improved their health almost 30 thousand pensioners and veterans of war and labor.
By the initiative of the President of Uzbekistan in center of capital built a square of Memory with the sacred image of the Mourning Mother. On the square Memory by golden letters the names of our compatriots inscribed who gave their lives in the battlefields of the Second World War, for the peaceful future for mankind.
The 9th of May in accordance with the decree of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov was announced the Day of Remembrance and Honor, which has become an important historical date, and embodies the restoration of justice and truth in relation to memory and dignity of man.
All this aimed at ensuring that people of Uzbekistan do not forget about the past, about their roots. Because without memory has no future. This truth should never be forgotten.
In short, everything will be done to ensure that our veterans and elderly people feel full support, care and attention of the state, which seeks to create the necessary conditions for a dignified life. Indeed, today thanks to them in our homes reign a welfare and a prosperity, and our sacred duty – to honor and remember those who fell on the battlefield, to take care of those who are stay close to us.
