This the true picture of the country being projected as the emerging power and the group comprising Brazil,Russia,India and China called BRIC are endorsing it for a permanent member status in the UN security Council ???.They must be deluded to have done that !
“We want India, Brazil in UN security council: BRIC nations” http://www.indiavision.com/news/article/topnews/45557/
India now has 100 million more people living below the poverty line than in 2004, according to official estimates released on Sunday.
The poverty rate has risen to 37.2 per cent of the population from 27.5 per cent in 2004, a change that will require the Congress-ruled government to spend more money on the poor.
The new estimate comes weeks after Sonia Gandhi, head of the Congress party, asked the government to revise a Food Security Bill to include more women, children and destitutes.
“The Planning Commission has accepted the report on poverty figures,” Abhijit Sen, a member of the Planning Commission said, referring to the new poverty estimate report submitted by a government panel last December.
India now has 410 million people living below the UN estimated poverty line of $1.25 a day, 100 million more than was estimated earlier, officials said.
India calculates how much of its population is living below the poverty line by checking whether families can afford one square meal a day that meets minimum nutrition needs.
A third of the world’s poor are believed to be in India, living on less than $2 per day, worse than in many parts of sub-Saharan Africa, experts say.
The Indian government spends only 1 per cent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on healthcare facilities, forcing millions to struggle to get medicines, Oxfam and 62 other agencies said in a report called: “Your Money or Your Life” last year.
While India’s economy is slowly recovering from a global recession with a GDP growth of 7.2 per cent, millions of poor in rural India are finding it difficult to cope with around 17 per cent food price inflation.
Source http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/410-million-indians-living-below-poverty-line-940
Can anyone give a plausible reason for the discontent giving rise to insurgencies like Khalistan ,Kashmir, Maoists/Naxalite and Assam etc ?.Especially in a country which is known to be one of the biggest Democracy, about to become one of the new emerging economy in the world having a high rate of GDP and many Dollar Billi…on rich tycoons to boast.
It is really beyond my comprehension as what make India with the above picture of its true internal conditions can ever be deemed as an emerging power.Only on the basis of its High GDP.If that be the case Bhutan, has thrice higher GDP rate.
We are not at all envious of their, growth, nor would prefer to compete with in the manner they are achieving it….
Our leaders don’t have breakfast with the US leadership in the morning and dessert with the Russians at night. Our business community competes with honesty and does not wish to thrive on scams. To quote an example substantiating the aforesaid I append two links below:…
1) India’s Friends: Dinner in the U.S., Dessert in Moscow http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1946236,00.html?iid=sphere-inline-sidebar#ixzz0Zgp7WmEh
2) Indian software/outsourcing company crashes after fraud exposed http://eideard.wordpress.com/2009/01/07/indian-softwareoutsourcing-company-crashes-after-fraud-exposed/
Moreover what good are such growth figures when the wealth is concentrated in a few hands, while the rest of the people are naked, homeless, under nourished, starving and dying of hunger and dreaded diseases?.
We are growing slowly but steadily with the resolve that Inshallah in due course of time we shall be far stronger and healthier, economically in all aspects, but with honor and dignity. We shall achieve this success due to our hard and honest work and not through conniving, fraudulent and boot licking methods. .
There is no denial that India’s economy is not better then that of Pakistan. Definitely it has increased manifold since the 1990.This is owing to the fact that Pakistan has suffered greatly due to setbacks brought upon it during the course of its history. Firstly it the eastern wing of the wing got separated in 1971.Secondly, being proxy for the US in the cold war fought to drive the Russians out of Afghanistan and then being left with the heavy burden of having to play host to the influx of millions of Afghan refugees till today. Last but not least the huge losses it is enduring since 9/11 for being the front line ally in the war against terror. Undoubtedly, the Indians have made great inroads in the software industry and their entertainment industry. Having said this you also must accept the fact that the economy maybe the best in the world yet if its benefits do not reach the masses and lays concentrated in few hands then it is like a treasure box buried somewhere with no map to locate it. Indians masses are poor, hungry and homeless, whereas their government maybe very rich or a couple of dozen families maybe having billions of dollars stashed away. No one can deny that US is the Nos.1 Super power, read the yesterdays news and you will be shocked to know that in spite of their world best economy their citizens are suffering from what I claimed India is:
Number of homeless soars in New York
http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/the-newspaper/international/number-of-homeless-soars-in-new-york-130…
Hungry in America Published: February 9, 2010 http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/opinion/10wed4.html?th&emc=th
I could provide more such links, but I feel they should suffice enough to let you feel the drift
Please let me assure you that I have no heartburn for India or the Indians. I personally believe that it is in the best interest of both the neighboring countries and the whole region, to co-exist in a peaceful and harmonious manner. I personally am a great believer of freedom and justice and human rights.
Free Lance Analyst and Critic.
