December 26, 2008
“The percentage of the population below the official poverty line in India, has come down from 36% in 1993-94 to 28% in 2004-05″ - Planning Commission, Government of India.
The recent Hindustan Times summit made for interesting viewing. Some of the most renowned intellectuals and leaders of the world were at hand to witness and approve of India’s growth, to be one of the most powerful nations on the planet in the coming years; a natural contender to be on the permanent list of the United Nations Security Council. Summits like these are interesting as they bring forth a wide range of ideas just as our blogs do.
That we, the people of India, have propelled ourselves to be in the cognizance of the world’s eye in such a short period of time of sixty-one years, is indeed a glowing tribute to our industriousness. And yet, although we have the nuclear bomb, a thriving IT and ITES industry that’s recognized around the world and have recently also sent a probe to the moon, becoming only the sixth country in the world to individually do so, it is indeed shocking how the manipulation of facts can give the viewer a different picture from what actually is.
India is Shining, or is it? The fact may be
that we are talking of two India’s if not more.
While traveling my country by road, often out of necessity, I have found two different economically divergent India’s. One India lies on the National Highways, concentrating itself into towns such as Lucknow, Bhopal, Vadodra, Guwahati, Vijaywada and culminating into mega cities such as Gurgaon, Mumbai, Benagalooru, Hyderabad and many other such hubs of urban development, that we, the people of India are so proud of. The other India lies on state, district and pardon my usage of the phrase pak-dandi highways. This India consists of hamlets, villages or little towns like Bhagpat, Sukma and Gubra, culminating themselves into slums of Mumbai, the forgotten rasta’s of Delhi, the slums of Kolkata, and even the poverty infested doars of the east. It is here in Little India, that I have found my countrymen. And they are not shining.
So, who is shining anyway? Who actually is it in India that is proud of us going to our chanda maama, being a nuclear capable country and months away from sitting in the United Nations Security Council with the big five?
Often while traveling on the roads of our developed cities, we come across beggars at traffic intersections and out of pity for their plight we shell out a coin or two. They are just an aberration we think; after all India truly is shining. And when we come across people who argue that the real India is not shining - the real India that exists not on the National Highways of our country but on the district roads or the state highways or the pak-dandis one passes whilst traveling India - we look at that person as delusional. “Doesn’t he understand”, we ask ourselves, “India IS shining”. “Look around you, people have more cars, they have houses, they dress well, go to the mall and have scotch in the evening. What a square.”
Well consider these facts & figures:-
“The poverty line on which the estimate of the poor is based is still the same as it was in 1973-74 when per capita incomes were much lower” - Planning Commission, Government of India.
• As per the government of India, the poverty line for urban areas is Rs.296 per month and the poverty line for rural areas is Rs.276 per month.
• Broadly speaking, anyone in India who can earn more than Rs.10 a day or Rs.300 a month is above the poverty line. This translates to 72% of our population.
• Applying the current definition of the poverty line in India, 300 million people are deemed to be below that poverty line.
• The World Banks definition, however, of the poverty line for developing countries like India is fixed at a more reasonable 1$ a day per person or 365$ a year. In Indian currency that translates to roughly Rs.50/day or Rs.1,500/month.
• If we apply the world Banks definition we find that more than 75% of Indians are below the poverty Line and not 28% as we are given to believe.
The Government of India defines that 10 Rupees a day is equal to buying food worth 2200 calories, the consumption of which on a daily basis, is just enough to prevent death. How we intend the person buying ‘2200 calories’ of food to cook it and where to cook it, seems beyond the definitions scope. That the person needs a roof and clothes to live is not considered either.
Back at the traffic intersections of our cities, where we may or may not feel pity for beggars, but do agree that they are an aberration - how much does one think a beggar would be making on a diurnal basis? I would be guessing pretty wildly, but I am sure it must be more than Rs.10 a day, which places them above the defined poverty line in India. That means they are not poor - and India is indeed shinning.
And what of the family of five at Gubra; and many, many more like them we see around Little India, who consider themselves lucky to get one grain of rice in a fortnight? Are they shining as well?
Well, of course we are shining. But India is a complicated conundrum, the answer to which lies in the riddle itself. Even if we use the poverty line defined by the World Bank, we still find that approximately 250 million people in India are above the poverty ceiling, the population of which would make people like you and me belong to the fourth largest country in the world after China, India and the United States. So it is this India that shines bright and not the other ‘Little India’ we talked off earlier.
Now, if we revisit the Government of India’s definition of Rs.10 a day or Rs.300 a month as being the borderline between being poor and not; we still find 300 million people below the poverty line, the population of which, would also make it the fourth largest country in the world; being beaten to the goal post by the third largest country in the world, the United States of America - whose population is 305 million, by just 5 million people, or in global parlance, ‘by a whisker’.
So, whose India is it anyway?
It is a shame that we believe that living on Rs.10 a day or Rs.300 a month is all right. How about a little dignity for our fellow ‘Little Indians’?
Shine On India!!
-- Jai
“The percentage of the population below the official poverty line in India, has come down from 36% in 1993-94 to 28% in 2004-05″ - Planning Commission, Government of India.
The recent Hindustan Times summit made for interesting viewing. Some of the most renowned intellectuals and leaders of the world were at hand to witness and approve of India’s growth, to be one of the most powerful nations on the planet in the coming years; a natural contender to be on the permanent list of the United Nations Security Council. Summits like these are interesting as they bring forth a wide range of ideas just as our blogs do.
That we, the people of India, have propelled ourselves to be in the cognizance of the world’s eye in such a short period of time of sixty-one years, is indeed a glowing tribute to our industriousness. And yet, although we have the nuclear bomb, a thriving IT and ITES industry that’s recognized around the world and have recently also sent a probe to the moon, becoming only the sixth country in the world to individually do so, it is indeed shocking how the manipulation of facts can give the viewer a different picture from what actually is.
India is Shining, or is it? The fact may be
that we are talking of two India’s if not more.
While traveling my country by road, often out of necessity, I have found two different economically divergent India’s. One India lies on the National Highways, concentrating itself into towns such as Lucknow, Bhopal, Vadodra, Guwahati, Vijaywada and culminating into mega cities such as Gurgaon, Mumbai, Benagalooru, Hyderabad and many other such hubs of urban development, that we, the people of India are so proud of. The other India lies on state, district and pardon my usage of the phrase pak-dandi highways. This India consists of hamlets, villages or little towns like Bhagpat, Sukma and Gubra, culminating themselves into slums of Mumbai, the forgotten rasta’s of Delhi, the slums of Kolkata, and even the poverty infested doars of the east. It is here in Little India, that I have found my countrymen. And they are not shining.
So, who is shining anyway? Who actually is it in India that is proud of us going to our chanda maama, being a nuclear capable country and months away from sitting in the United Nations Security Council with the big five?
Often while traveling on the roads of our developed cities, we come across beggars at traffic intersections and out of pity for their plight we shell out a coin or two. They are just an aberration we think; after all India truly is shining. And when we come across people who argue that the real India is not shining - the real India that exists not on the National Highways of our country but on the district roads or the state highways or the pak-dandis one passes whilst traveling India - we look at that person as delusional. “Doesn’t he understand”, we ask ourselves, “India IS shining”. “Look around you, people have more cars, they have houses, they dress well, go to the mall and have scotch in the evening. What a square.”
Well consider these facts & figures:-
“The poverty line on which the estimate of the poor is based is still the same as it was in 1973-74 when per capita incomes were much lower” - Planning Commission, Government of India.
• As per the government of India, the poverty line for urban areas is Rs.296 per month and the poverty line for rural areas is Rs.276 per month.
• Broadly speaking, anyone in India who can earn more than Rs.10 a day or Rs.300 a month is above the poverty line. This translates to 72% of our population.
• Applying the current definition of the poverty line in India, 300 million people are deemed to be below that poverty line.
• The World Banks definition, however, of the poverty line for developing countries like India is fixed at a more reasonable 1$ a day per person or 365$ a year. In Indian currency that translates to roughly Rs.50/day or Rs.1,500/month.
• If we apply the world Banks definition we find that more than 75% of Indians are below the poverty Line and not 28% as we are given to believe.
The Government of India defines that 10 Rupees a day is equal to buying food worth 2200 calories, the consumption of which on a daily basis, is just enough to prevent death. How we intend the person buying ‘2200 calories’ of food to cook it and where to cook it, seems beyond the definitions scope. That the person needs a roof and clothes to live is not considered either.
Back at the traffic intersections of our cities, where we may or may not feel pity for beggars, but do agree that they are an aberration - how much does one think a beggar would be making on a diurnal basis? I would be guessing pretty wildly, but I am sure it must be more than Rs.10 a day, which places them above the defined poverty line in India. That means they are not poor - and India is indeed shinning.
And what of the family of five at Gubra; and many, many more like them we see around Little India, who consider themselves lucky to get one grain of rice in a fortnight? Are they shining as well?
Well, of course we are shining. But India is a complicated conundrum, the answer to which lies in the riddle itself. Even if we use the poverty line defined by the World Bank, we still find that approximately 250 million people in India are above the poverty ceiling, the population of which would make people like you and me belong to the fourth largest country in the world after China, India and the United States. So it is this India that shines bright and not the other ‘Little India’ we talked off earlier.
Now, if we revisit the Government of India’s definition of Rs.10 a day or Rs.300 a month as being the borderline between being poor and not; we still find 300 million people below the poverty line, the population of which, would also make it the fourth largest country in the world; being beaten to the goal post by the third largest country in the world, the United States of America - whose population is 305 million, by just 5 million people, or in global parlance, ‘by a whisker’.
So, whose India is it anyway?
It is a shame that we believe that living on Rs.10 a day or Rs.300 a month is all right. How about a little dignity for our fellow ‘Little Indians’?
Shine On India!!
-- Jai
1 Comments:
After reading your post the first thought that came to my mind is how complicated the problems in India are...having lived in different cities I feel sad to see the vast difference...Some have it all while some don't..doesn't feel like I'm living in the same country when I move from one part to the other.
Nice blog. Keep blogging!
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