Why is a democratic country which got
independence in 1947 is still poor? Successive governments poured billions of dollars
into social welfare schemes, but majority of people remain poor.
New data released on Friday showed that that more than 70 percent of people in India live in villages, with the majority extremely poor and dependent on manual labour. The data from India's socio-economic and caste census was collected between 2011 and 2013. It's the first time India has studied caste data since 1932.
One doesn’t have to look far for reasons for this sorry state of affairs. The country lacks strong, upright and efficient political leaders. They simply failed in uplifting the people and giving them good living standards. They enriched themselves through corruption and scandals. They tightly controlled the economy and refused to open up the country for development. In 1947, the situation in S Korea was worse than India. Now they are far ahead of India.The Church needs to look into these aspects.
When you go deep inside interior regions in states like UP, Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra and W Bengal, the abysmal living conditions are really appalling. There’s no electricity, no transport, no proper houses, no drinking water and no facilities for education and healthcare. Then where’s the budgetary allocations going?
On the other hand, rich people are getting richer. The number of billionaires is expanding. If you analyse the net worth of most members of parliament or state assemblies, they are filthy rich. There’s no real concern for the poor.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the data was provisional and the final data would be updated over the next few months to help the government to properly channel its welfare spending to benefit those who needed help the most. It’s not that the conclusion will show any improvement when the final data comes in later.
India conducts a national census every 10 years and that document delves into the wealth, living conditions and other personal details of the country's 1.2 billion people. The previous government initiated a separate process of studying caste and analyzing socio-economic progress based on those divisions.
New data released on Friday showed that that more than 70 percent of people in India live in villages, with the majority extremely poor and dependent on manual labour. The data from India's socio-economic and caste census was collected between 2011 and 2013. It's the first time India has studied caste data since 1932.
One doesn’t have to look far for reasons for this sorry state of affairs. The country lacks strong, upright and efficient political leaders. They simply failed in uplifting the people and giving them good living standards. They enriched themselves through corruption and scandals. They tightly controlled the economy and refused to open up the country for development. In 1947, the situation in S Korea was worse than India. Now they are far ahead of India.The Church needs to look into these aspects.
When you go deep inside interior regions in states like UP, Bihar, Orissa, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Maharashtra and W Bengal, the abysmal living conditions are really appalling. There’s no electricity, no transport, no proper houses, no drinking water and no facilities for education and healthcare. Then where’s the budgetary allocations going?
On the other hand, rich people are getting richer. The number of billionaires is expanding. If you analyse the net worth of most members of parliament or state assemblies, they are filthy rich. There’s no real concern for the poor.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the data was provisional and the final data would be updated over the next few months to help the government to properly channel its welfare spending to benefit those who needed help the most. It’s not that the conclusion will show any improvement when the final data comes in later.
India conducts a national census every 10 years and that document delves into the wealth, living conditions and other personal details of the country's 1.2 billion people. The previous government initiated a separate process of studying caste and analyzing socio-economic progress based on those divisions.
Caste, the Hindu custom that for millennia has
divided people in a strict social hierarchy based on their family's traditional
livelihood and ethnicity, is deeply sensitive in India. The practice was outlawed
when India gained freedom
from Britain
in 1947, but is still pervasive. Studies show low-caste Indians and dalits face
daily challenges for decent schools, medical care and jobs. While the data
shows how low-caste Indians fare overall on various economic indicators, the
government has said that the final data would not show specific caste details.
The data released Friday revealed that of India's nearly 244 million
households, more than 179 million are rural. At least 56 percent of those rural
households do not own any land and depend on manual labor. Among the lowest
castes in rural India
the number of landless was as high as 70 percent. Nearly 107 million rural
households are what the government terms as "deprived", meaning they
either live in a single room made of mud and straw, have no earning adult male,
or no literate adult member.