Digital directories can make services accessible but cannot by themselves guarantee quality or protect workers. Critically evaluate this with reference to geriatric caregiving platforms in India.

India's share of people aged 60+ is projected to reach about 20% by 2050 [1]. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment's SHATAYU dashboard (May 2026) lists over 30,000 vetted geriatric caregivers that families can search by district [2]. The statement largely holds. Directories fix the finding problem, but quality and worker welfare need institutions beyond the platform.

Merits: accessibility

• District-wise search and OTP-verified callbacks, free for full-time or hourly care [2].
• Specialised care, such as dementia, palliative and post-surgical care, becomes easy to find [2].
• Skill recognition: four certified training categories backed by NISD and NSDC [2].
• Trust signals: a profile is listed only after its certificates are reviewed, and families can leave ratings [2].

Limits: quality and reach

• Certification checks skills at entry, not ongoing performance. Ratings come only after the service is given.
• Affordability: over 40% of India's elderly fall in the poorest wealth quintile [1]. A free search does not make care affordable.
• Supply gap: a national total can hide district-level shortages. Low pay drives workers out of care jobs. Across OECD countries, long-term care workers earn about EUR 9/hour, against EUR 14 for hospital workers [3].

Limits: worker protection

• Hiring happens off-platform, so wages, hours and safety go unrecorded [2].
• Home care is like domestic work, where 8 in 10 workers in India are informal and have no social security [4].
• Ratings run one way only. There is no grievance channel for the caregiver, often a woman working alone in a stranger's home.
• A certified skill does not make the job itself formal.

Way forward

• Publish district- and care-type data to direct NISD/NSDC training where it is needed.
• Offer a standard contract (hours, pay, duties) at the callback stage.
• Link listed caregivers to social security under the Unorganised Workers' Social Security Act, 2008, as Bihar is doing for domestic workers through its Social Security Board [5].
• Use the ILO 5R framework to add Reward and Represent to Recognise, and onboard certified workers from Kerala's Skills Collectives [6].

SHATAYU is a useful first step: it recognises eldercare as skilled work and makes it accessible. Combined with care financing, contracts and social security, it can deliver dignity to the elderly and decent work (SDG 8) to caregivers, in line with Article 41 on public assistance in old age.