NITI Aayog’s new roadmap is a good start, but without a solid financing plan, it’s like building a hospital with no doctors. Most people assume old age means family care. But as families shrink and jobs pull people across cities, that safety net is fraying. Who pays when your parents need daily help? Insurance? Taxes? Employers? No one’s really answered that. This will hit urban middle-class Indians hard; people with ₹10-20 lakh salaries, working 9-5, juggling kids and parents. They’re the silent crisis in waiting. If the government doesn’t act now, caregiving will become a private burden; and that’s unsustainable. The bigger question? Will finance ministry treat this as a pension issue… or a health and welfare emergency? Because right now, no one’s stepping up.