We
are not ashamed
published in Beyond headlines on 22. 6.15
The Indian government and the
Indian citizens have been aping the
west in many matters in an attempt to project themselves as a very trendy
nation. It is true that India
is an emerging economy and has a pride of place at the global level. But, we, as a nation have to be ashamed of
certain undesirable factors which exist in this country. They are related to the treatment of women,
senior citizens, children and the disabled, the indifference to environmental
cleanliness and the high level of corruption prevailing at all the levels of
governance.
Position of women In India
Indian women are denied justice
in matters of economic, social and political equality in spite of
constitutional guarantees and legal protection. The very bad treatment of women in this
country is indicated by the result
of Expert polls conducted by Thompson
Reuters Foundation i.e.,” India is the
world’s biggest democracy, but is ranked fourth most dangerous country for women in the world due to a combination of
violence, dangerous customs, lack of education and poverty affecting Indian women.” . It is not an
exaggerated finding, because, not a day passes without news report of rape
incidents happening in different parts of the country and Delhi proving to be the rape capital of the country.
Even four year old girl and old women are subjected to brutal form of sexual
.violence .The PM, the President and the leaders of the ruling party and the
opposition parties expressed shock and concern over the raping of five year old
Delhi girl child . But what is the use of their reaction when rape incidents
happen unabated in spite of the recent, "anti-rape law" which has put
in place a slew of new provisions and tougher punishments? The recent rape reports
prove the point that the solution to
sexual assault on women can not be solved by laws alone. Laws have been
ineffective in the face of a patriarchal culture. A combination of several
measures have to be attempted urgently, if we are really ashamed of the poll result of 370 gender specialists around
the world that voted India ,as the worst
place for women among all the G20
countries .
What is
the use of death sentence, sacking of the police commissioners or advising
girls to be careful in several matters?
These incidents mostly happen within homes. It is the mind set of boys
and men that has to undergo drastic changes. The responsibility for correcting
this situation lies on the parents, teachers and film makers. It is true that
it will take a longer time. Till then the quick solution is to sensitise the
lower level police personnel who are slow in filing FIR and speedy justice system.
More over, the sexual assault crimes must be declared as non bail able offence.
The son preference attitude which is dominant among even rich and educated
families results in higher level of feticide resulting in skewed sex ratio
i.e., 940/1000 as per 2011 census. The missing women of 60/1000 have disappeared from this world due to
feticide, infanticide, higher female child death rate , higher maternal
mortality , dowry death, honour killings
and suicides which is due to rape, acid
attack, sexual harassment , dowry harassment, domestic violence etc., In no
other country the teachers, religious preachers, policemen and politicians
indulge in raping girl children. The culprits
are selected to contest election without any political morality s and win the elections
too and then try ever
Method possible to escape punishment.
Even female tourists become victims of
rape and this has compelled few
countries to declare India
as an unsafe country for women travelers.
In the three months since that attack, the number of foreigners
traveling to India
has dropped by 25 per cent, according to the study by the New Delhi-based
Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry. The number of women tourists has
dropped by 35 per cent, the study released said. A poll of 370 gender
specialists around the world that voted, India,
as the worst place for women among all the G20 countries caused ripples in India.
It stung – especially as Saudi
Arabia was at the second-worst. But the
experts were resolute in their choice. “In India, women and girls continue to
be sold as chattels, married off as young as 10, burned alive as a result
of dowry-related disputes and young girls exploited and abused as domestic
slave”
Yet, we are not ashamed of the
unsafe conditions prevailing in India
for girls and women in spite of the existence of so many laws.
Position of disabled persons
in India
As per Census
2011 results there are 21 million people in India as suffering from one or the other kind of disability. It is equal to 2.1% of the population as per 2011 census data This meant that while the government
officially recognises 20-30 million disabled people, 50-60 million are
invisible. The
constitution of India
ensures equality, freedom. Justice and dignity for all the individuals,
including persons with disabilities through the policies of the Government of
India. But there is total indifference to need of the disabled persons
in this country. For example, the railway stations are not accessible. Ramps
are rare and that too limited for entry into the foot over–bridges. Platforms
are inaccessible. The gap (height) between the platform and the coach varies
from station to station. India
is noted for lack of resource allocation for facilities and opportunities for
the disabled. The toilet has been made, but sadly it does not follow the
international standards. The height and space are not made according to the
requirements."
Negative attitudes held by the families of the
disabled, and often the disabled themselves, deter disabled persons from taking
an active part in the family, community or workforce. Those suffering from
mental illness or mental retardation face the worst stigma and are subject to
severe social exclusion. In fact, employment of people with disability actually
fell from 43% in 1991 to 38% in 2002, despite the country's economic growth. In
the public sector, despite a 3% reservation since 2003, only 10% of posts have
been identified as “suitable”. The situation is far worse in the private
sector. The sector has few incentives for hiring disabled people. In the late
1990s, employment of people with disability among large private firms was only
0.3% of their workforce. Among multinational companies, this was a mere 0.05%.
Financial assistance too has hardly reached those in need. The quota policy is
also covers just three types of disability – locomotors, hearing and visual.
The equipments needed to assist the disabled in their daily tasks are not mass
produced and are costly. The Indian
disabled persons are subjected to deprivation in many dimensions of their
lives. Yet, we are not ashamed of
the inhuman attitude and indifference towards them.
Dirty cities of India
India
cannot claim to be the world’s leading economy when its urban areas pose a
major public health hazard. We might have reduced the number of poor people
thanks to the benefits of planned economy. But the Indian government has failed
to instill in urban and rural Indians, a civic sense and respect for public
spaces. Many people are still defecating and urinating in the open, like they
did centuries ago – not just in villages, but in urban areas as well. Forbes has rated Delhi as the 24th dirtiest city in the world
with the filthy waters of the Yamuna and its unhealthy surrounding being cited
as one of the chief factors. The arrangements made to improve the basic
facilities like sanitation, drainage or infrastructural facilities by our
government are not sufficient to meet the growing expectations of ever-growing
population of the developed or developing cities. A Chinese tourist made a
comment about Indian environment in one of her travelogues as, “All the places
in India
where there are human dwellings have three things in common—they are dirty,
smelly and messy.”
Indians
seem to lack civic sense when it comes to cleanliness of our public spaces It is true that, it is difficult to expect
the slum dwellers to maintain cleanliness since they are not provided with
toilets and regular supply of water.
What about the well off sections? We
often see people traveling in busses and trains and walking on the roads,
spitting, urinating and throwing garbage any where and every where. The beaches
and parks and other public places look dirty because of the lack of civic sense
among the Indians. The conditions of some bus-stands and railway
stations are a direct reflection of national attitude towards cleanliness. Some
government offices look very dirty. Indian city roads and lanes are filled with
un cleared garbage and stagnated water. According to some survey report, half
of the households in India
do not have access to toilets. Many government schools do not have toilet facilities.
The lack of clean toilets in the
tourist spots and national highways is driving the foreign tourists mad. We are not bothered about environmental
degradation and pollution caused by some of our activities. Is it because Indians
in general have no regard for cleanliness?
No, India
is so dirty because people prefer to live in that dirty environment than to
clean things. . The government departments and the individuals lack sense of
cleanliness. Yet we are not ashamed and talk about Incredible India
Status of children in India
The children of today are the future of
tomorrow and they constitute one third of our population. Hence their needs are
to be addressed immediate.
But the statistics available on their status in India is very shocking.
One
out of 16 children die before they attain the age of 1, and one out of 11 die
before they are 5 years old.
35%
of the developing world’s low-birth-weight babies are born in India. Out of every 100 children,
19 continue to be out of school.
Of
every 100 children who enroll, 70 drop out by the time they reach the secondary
level.
Of
every 100 children who drop out of school, 66 are girls.
65%
of girls in India
are married by the age of 18 and become mothers soon after.
India is home to the highest number
of child labourers in the world.
India has the world’s largest number
of sexually abused children, with a child below 16 raped every 155th minute, a
child below 10 every 13th hour, and at least one in every 10 children sexually
abused at any point in time
The very survival of the Indian child is
a matter of concern. Around 2.5 million children die in India every
year, accounting for one in five deaths in the world, with girls being 50% more
likely to die
According to a report on the state of India’s newborns, the health challenges faced by
a newborn child in India
are bigger than those experienced by any other country. One in every three malnourished children in the
world lives in India.
(40% of child malnutrition in the developing world is in India)Child
malnutrition is generally caused by a combination of inadequate or
inappropriate food intake, gastrointestinal parasites and other childhood
diseases, and improper care during illness. A new report by the Naandi Foundation
concluded that around 46% of all
children below the age of three are too small for their age, 47 percent are
underweight and at least 16 percent are acutely malnourished, or wasted.
India does have
welfare systems aimed to aid millions of the hungry; school meals theoretically feed poor children
across the country, and the Anganwadi services
provide support to mothers in every district. Yet the services are plagued by mismanagement and corruption, Al Jazeera
reports, that, the school meals carry
worms and insects in them, and the Aganwadi centers are often closed and dysfunctional.
Many of the street children who have
run away from home have done so because they were beaten or sexually abused. Tragically, their homelessness can lead to further abuse
through exploitative child labour and prostitution. Not only does abuse rob runaway children of their material
security, it also leaves them emotionally scarred. Many of the abused children
are traumatised and some refuse to speak for months. The facts and figures
about the Indian children should cause some concern to the government. Yet we are not ashamed of the plight of the children
Corruption.
Corruption is a social evil. It spreads like cancer .Corruption
in India
is a consequence of the nexus between bureaucrats, politicians, corporate and
the law offenders. Today, the number of ministers with an honest image can be
counted on fingers. It looks as though entry into politics is to earn illegal
money .At one time, bribe was paid for getting wrong things done but now, and
the citizens are used to bribing for getting right things done at right time.
It has become so widespread and deep rooted and the result is for everyone to
see i.e., India
is ranked at 95th position and 96th among 183 countries in 2011 and 2012 respectively
as per Transparency International's Corruption Perception Index (CPI).
. Most of the government
offices are the places where corruption is most evident. Police are supposed to
be the symbol of law and order and discipline. Even they are indulged in wide
spread corruption. This is more so because, they enjoy unlimited powers and
there is no action against them even on complaints. It is very distressing to
note that even the judiciary is not
free from corruption. No one is made accountable for the various scams,
involving several thousand crores of rupees .The process of law dealing with
them is very slow. Hence, the influential law offenders are not really scared
of punishment.
.Currently, the
nation is rocked by exposure of scam
after scam at the government level.
Major
corruption cases uncovered in 2012 include: the Karnataka Wakf
Board Land
case, at US$36.4 billion; the 2G Spectrum telecommunications case, involving
the alleged misappropriation of US$32.15 billion; the Indian Coal Allocation
case, a major issue as India faces energy scarcity, involving US$33.78 billion.
With a total value of over US$100 billion, the corruption cases represent 5.5
per cent of India’s
gross domestic product for 2011. If it is not controlled in time, it will eat
up all the good work done far. Even the safety of our nation is jeoparadised
due to corruption in defense deals.
According to
the World Bank, India
has a poor rating on business climate. "One of the reasons is related to
bribery and corruption resulting in lower FDI flow. "It is difficult for
foreign companies to operate in India
without being touched by the issue of corruption in some shape or form. India
slipped to the fourteenth spot from the eighth position in the list of
countries that attracted the highest Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) last year.
The FDI Inflows into India declined by about $10 billion to $25
billion, according to the “World Investment Report 2011” released by United
Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) According to the
investment report, India
ranked way below its competing neighbor China, which saw FDI inflows to the
tune of $106 billion in 2010. India
was in the eighth place in 2009.The major reason is corruption, yet we are
not ashamed of our global image in this matter
Written
by Prof. Dr. Rameeza.A.Rasheed.
