A National Shame

A National Shame - these words were pronounced by none other than our honourable Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh on HUNGaMa report. What is there in the report to shame? Over 40% of children below 5 years are suffering from malnutrition with most Indians falling under the under nutrition category. The WHO recommendation for an adult is 2400 Kcal/person/day. But on an average an Indian consumes 2300 Kcal/person/day. The gap may look small but generally in India, like the developed countries, the poor do more physical work than the rich. One study finds that the physically working group get just in the range of 1600 - 1800 Kcal/person/day.

With 'the great Indian middle class' and upper class dreaming India becoming a super power by 2020, the content of this report is going to be a nightmare to delt with. Will a nation be called a super power with half of its citizens going to bed with an empty stomach? Why over half a billion people goes malnourished? The reasons stands in the following order - poverty, poor distribution system, illiteracy and sexual discrimination.

The first reason is the real face of India. It is not a single reason but a result of a chain reaction. Poverty - illiteracy - over population - unemployment - poverty. We can add many other 'shame' words in between, but the reaction will start and end with poverty. Let us start from the first factor for poverty - illiteracy. India has the largest illiterate population on earth - 75% literacy rate as of 2011 compared to 86% achieved worldwide. Even this 75% knows how to read and write but when it comes to understanding, interpreting and analysing capacity, it is shame to write!

A recent report says that over half of class six students were finding it difficult to understand a class two syllabus. Considering this, we must put a question mark after the percentage of literacy achieved. The system of education in India and the faculty members along with government's expenditure on education are the reasons to blame. Parents? Of course, they too. A syllabus that is kept for generations unchanged, read - vomit exam pattern and evaluation, poor skilled teachers and step-son attitude towards education by the government will never create a 'knowledge India'. Syllabus must be reviewed periodically, a fun learning environment must be created to stop the dropouts, a logical examination pattern, and the recruitment of high skilled service passion teachers with constant upgrading of technologies is the urgent need.

More a country's population, more she have to spend on basic needs. That too for a country that hosts one-sixth of world population, it is a big hurdle in its race to become super power. With the illiteracy directly responsible for over population, the above suggested can serve big. Yet for the generation that went uneducated, night school, television programmes on ill effects of over population, exposure towards birth control methods will serve the purpose.

Post economic slow down, India's unemployment rate rose to double digits. Considering the development taking place in the country and the age factor advantage of India, it can be easily mitigated by proper planning. When these thorns are removed from the path to developed nation, it is just the matter of time for India to jump above the hurdles.

Next comes the Public Distribution System (PDS). India's PDS is one of the poorly managed and maintained system in the world. When millions of people go hungry, we feed rats and rodents. This is the state of PDS in India. Honourable Supreme court recently ordered the government to distribute the food grains 'dumped' in warehouses to the needy. Maintenance of warehouses is still poor throughout the country. This must be rectified to stop the avoidable loss. Mismanagement is another reason for the pathetic condition of PDS. Grain-trafficking must be checked. Stop the unnecessary and feed the needy.

The last of big four reasons - sexual discrimination. Even with the sex ratio of 914 to 1000 among below six age category, girl babies number more than boy babies in under nutrition babies. From womb to grave, she is viewed secondary and sometimes burden. The most worrying factor is, under six sex ratio is down from 945 in 1991 to 927 in 2001. Now it is at 914. An alarming reality.

When a boy is educated, one is educated. When a girl is educated, a family is educated is an apt quote to get mention here.

How this actually haunts? Well, today's girl is tomorrow's mother. When a girl remains uneducated, not cared and malnutrition, how can she deliver a healthy baby and will educate her offspring?

These are the macro problems. To eradicate poverty, malnutrition, unemployment and other haunting ghosts of development, planning must start from micro level. It is not the responsibility of government alone. Every citizen must involve himself/herself in this process. With India set to become the youngest working population country in few years, we are in a race against time. A smooth path for our children is the road to development. Success will not knock out doors tomorrow, but we are steps away from opening our doors to it.

I do not want to end like the following. 'I am on my way to open the door. You?' rather, it is too big for me. Let us do it!