India is shining with 7% GDP, SENSEX at 10684.30, Inflation at about 4.6 and foreign exchange reserves have crossed $150 billion. What an acievement! It can be seen in the indian media both electronic and print. The governement and the Indians deserve to be applauded. And that is exactly what the media is doing. The people(middle and upper class) are happy and the media is happy too. What a rosy picture!
But is the whole country rejoicing’ NO!
While going through the current issue of Economic and political weekly, some facts surprised me.
In India, the prevailing poverty line is Rs 368 and Rs 559 per person per month for rural and urban areas.(Could any individual live a decent life with this money”)
Malnutrition is another problem faced by Indians.Around one in four indians are malnourished.
Presently 47% of Indian children below the age of 5 are underweight for their age.(Malnourishment hinders developmentand capacity to learn.)
Only 20% of Indians are covered by public health care.( Due to the bad condition of public hospitals, no one prefers going there even though the costs are less.)
At least one in three Indians does not get the basic daily water requirement.
Presently, about 57% of Indian households do not have electricity.( I wonder if about 10% of the ducated in India knows this fact.)
Education is a fundamental right. 71.16% of the people in the 15-19 year age group had not completed a secondary education-a 2001 survey. (Unimaginable! and what ahve the priveleged been doing about it, nothing!)
According to the article in EPW, Redefining Poverty: A new poverty line for a new India, the poverty line in India should be about Rs 840 per capita per month. “At this expenditure level nearly 69% of India’s population is below the povert line which is over two and a half times the present official poverty rate of 26.1%.
Related links:
http://nanonomics.blogspot.com/( A Friend’s view on india shining)
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/2006/07/11/stories/2006071101391100.htm(On the economic progress made)
As Amartya sen said, Numbers dont mean a damn. A countries success should be looked into its health care and education system. Both of these are pathetic here
Dear Amar,
The official figures are misleading. We need more genuine data collection. Moreover like you said our social infrastructure is abysmal.