Often we don’t (or rather can’t) see the real picture; we miss out on the real India whose fabric is in tatters, whose very fundamentals are now standing on loose ground and so many factors, both external and internal, are waiting for just the right time to exploit its vulnerabilities.
We have around 1/3rd of the world’s poor while already sustaining 1/6th of the world population. Going by the World Bank benchmark of $ 1.25 per day income, the number of poor in India during 2004-05 was 456 million or 41.6% of the total population. Another estimate as per ADB's benchmark of $1.35 per day, the number of poor in India was 622 million, which is 54.8% of the population. Evidently, these estimates are significantly above the official estimates of 27.5% indicated by the Planning Commission.
But how can one define poverty so impractically? Money has different value for different people and more so at different places and situations. But these are not taken into account while determining the poverty level. The poverty line is just a weak indicator; poor are not only those who are below the poverty line, poor are also those who technically are above the poverty line but can't afford the basic necessities of life. Qualifying the poverty line does not guarantee even a meanly modest living.
We came across Shashi a few days ago who is a driver by profession. He earns Rs. 4500 per month, which is way above the poverty line of Rs. 538. His income exceeds the official Poverty line by 835%. So going by the government’s standards, you’d tend to think that he would be capable of meeting his daily requirements and needs. But, the truth is that the money is not sufficient for buying a decent education for his kids while providing for sustenance of his family at the same time. Unfortunately, his brother met with an accident and is suffering from brain hemorrhage and instead of seeking medical help, Shashi now wants to get his brother out of the hospital after just 6 days of treatment as soon as possible as a single day’s medical bill is more than his total monthly salary. The plight of the poor in government hospitals is quite well-known and as well-known is the huge costs involved in private medication. Despite so much of public expenditure on healthcare and social welfare for poor, the condition is not any better than in the past. Why don't the efforts and huge investments throw any substantial positive results at the ground level?
This is what a common man has to face - a fight for survival in a living hell. And there are millions of Shashi's out there. We don’t see them; we don’t ever hear their voices. We don’t even take notice of their existence unless it bothers us. We turn away from this unpleasant reality and the murky picture, thinking someone else will take care of it. Well, someone will have to.
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Shadows so tall...
This is an initiative to inform and enlighten the people of the country about the unforeseen challenges and problems that we face today. This is to encourage the people to look through the mist of temporary hype about the success and well-being of our country, India. The shadows we're dealing with are not of any definite size or kind. They are all around, in various forms and are inevitable. They all signify darkness, and darkness is what waits for us at the end of the tunnel. What we need to do and surely can is to fight them off, and for good, if we really want to see India shining in the sunshine.
We understand that this won't be easy. We would face several hurdles in our mission, the first of which would be convincing the people to believe that it's not always like 'What you see is what you get'. We have been fed on a false diet of patriotism. This is what blindfolds the general public and they fail to see the glaring realities which stretch beyond the range of sight of the commoners. Some situations need to be deeply analysed and well-thought into, to be able to realise the forthcoming problems and dangers arising out of them. The biggest hurdle would be the typical complacency and submissiveness of Indian people. We just give in and accept our fate as it is without challenging. Those designated to serve the country and its people act as rulers and treat the citizens as their subjects. This thinking has to change. They must be re-introduced to our constitution and form of governance.
The picture that is generally put forward to us is more of rosy and not a complete panoramic view of the country's condition. We rejoice over the rise in the no. of billionaires(which is actually pointless) in the country but fail to notice the rise in poverty levels at the same time. We watch the sensex go up and down so eagerly, but how many people from among the total population of India are actually concerned with its movement, how many gain out of it? We're elated at the smallest of success of a person having silghtest of links with India. Why do we need to look for such small instances to feel pride over our nationality. What is it, if not pseudo-patriotism? Why don't we focus on the bigger picture and actually do something outstanding, really outstanding. Something so outstanding that we actually need modesty to stand up and marvel at our own creation.
We all see the movement towards a promising future in America catching up, "yes, we can", they say. And so can we. What is stopping us to have an Obama of our own? I know that this idea has become quite a cliché already, but this is just the question to ponder over at the moment. When would we get over those trivial issues and divides? When would we start thinking in national interest and when would our 'rulers' start keeping the national interest ahead of their political and personal interests? No one can truly answer these questions but us. And that is because only we have the power to decide, even though we've long forgotten our prerogative to exercise that.
This is not against any particular government or political party, this is against the whole system of governance. This is to revive that feeling amongst all that it is we who're responsible and it's us who are capable of handling the situation. The task no doubt is tedious and apparently impossible. But a start is a start, even a small one. India would need great courage and conviction to deal with the situations firmly and take a few brave decisions, which might be unpopular in the short-term, but would have positive implications on the long-term growth and success of our country . A strong political will is the need of the hour.
There are several issues we want to raise and discuss and would take them up in our future posts.
We understand that this won't be easy. We would face several hurdles in our mission, the first of which would be convincing the people to believe that it's not always like 'What you see is what you get'. We have been fed on a false diet of patriotism. This is what blindfolds the general public and they fail to see the glaring realities which stretch beyond the range of sight of the commoners. Some situations need to be deeply analysed and well-thought into, to be able to realise the forthcoming problems and dangers arising out of them. The biggest hurdle would be the typical complacency and submissiveness of Indian people. We just give in and accept our fate as it is without challenging. Those designated to serve the country and its people act as rulers and treat the citizens as their subjects. This thinking has to change. They must be re-introduced to our constitution and form of governance.
The picture that is generally put forward to us is more of rosy and not a complete panoramic view of the country's condition. We rejoice over the rise in the no. of billionaires(which is actually pointless) in the country but fail to notice the rise in poverty levels at the same time. We watch the sensex go up and down so eagerly, but how many people from among the total population of India are actually concerned with its movement, how many gain out of it? We're elated at the smallest of success of a person having silghtest of links with India. Why do we need to look for such small instances to feel pride over our nationality. What is it, if not pseudo-patriotism? Why don't we focus on the bigger picture and actually do something outstanding, really outstanding. Something so outstanding that we actually need modesty to stand up and marvel at our own creation.
We all see the movement towards a promising future in America catching up, "yes, we can", they say. And so can we. What is stopping us to have an Obama of our own? I know that this idea has become quite a cliché already, but this is just the question to ponder over at the moment. When would we get over those trivial issues and divides? When would we start thinking in national interest and when would our 'rulers' start keeping the national interest ahead of their political and personal interests? No one can truly answer these questions but us. And that is because only we have the power to decide, even though we've long forgotten our prerogative to exercise that.
This is not against any particular government or political party, this is against the whole system of governance. This is to revive that feeling amongst all that it is we who're responsible and it's us who are capable of handling the situation. The task no doubt is tedious and apparently impossible. But a start is a start, even a small one. India would need great courage and conviction to deal with the situations firmly and take a few brave decisions, which might be unpopular in the short-term, but would have positive implications on the long-term growth and success of our country . A strong political will is the need of the hour.
There are several issues we want to raise and discuss and would take them up in our future posts.
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