In countless Indian homes this morning , someone will have woken before dawn to help an ageing parent rise, check her medicines, help her bathe and feed her before the day’s other duties began. It is done with love and without expectation of recognition, and it is part of the quiet foundation on which our entire care system has rested for generations. The new NITI Aayog report, Reimagining Care, is significant because it begins by seeing that person clearly and by asking what she or he needs.

That act of seeing rests on numbers that deserve attention. India had 149 million citizens aged sixty and above in 2022, roughly a tenth of our population. By 2031 this will rise to 194 million and by 2050 to 347 million, more than a fifth of the country. The 2011 Census counted 26.8 million persons with disabilities, many of whom rely on family members for daily support. Smaller households and greater mobility for work and education are changing how families can organise this care among themselves, and the report reads these shifts with pragmatic understanding rather than alarm.

What makes the report future ready is that it plans for a demographic reality still two decades from its fullest expression. It does not wait for the need to become acute before responding to it. Anticipation of this kind, thinking through institutions, standards and skills well before demand peaks, is the mark of a confident and forward-looking state. The report’s finest instinct is its recognition that care is productive work. Time Use Survey data shows that Indian households collectively devote several........

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