New Delhi, Sept. 18 -- One of the so-called 'enduring features' of India is its family structure-often talked up in the West, by the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, for instance, to try and draw a link between her Conservative Party and Indian values. Conversely, the West has been portrayed as an entity without a society, with its families in terminal decline. Both are lazy characterizations, as is evident in the way we care for our elderly.

The family structure has undergone a seismic shift in India in a relatively short period of time. Family was meant to ensure care for the elderly in India. But the top-down system of a patriarch and many sons pooling their earnings into a common fund has withered in the face of moderni...