INDIA

1. INDIA By Shib Sekhar Datta

2. Our India • Largest democracy and 6th largest country in the world. • India is a 34,000 years old country • India is the world's largest, oldest, continuous civilization. • India is the third largest economy in the world with an ever growing GDP of 9.2%. • Exports software to 90 countries etc etc.

3. Education • Sanskrit is the mother of all the European languages. • World's first university was in Takshashila in 700 BC. • Ayurveda is the earliest school of medicine. • Sushruta is the father of surgery. • Aryabhatta invented the Number System. • 42% doctors, 34% software engineers and 24% Scientists (In Europe and USA) - We are not Indian (Except during Diwali and religious festivals)

4. Comments ‘India is, the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.’ Mark Twain ‘If there is one place on the face of earth where all the dreams of living men have found a home from the very earliest days when man began the dream of existence, it is India.’ Romain Rolland

5. Health • Health care Budget just 0.9% of GDP • Average amount a person spends on health care $82 • 45% of Children under five are malnourished • Yet it has become a Hub for Medical Tourism • An angioplasty that takes $50,000 in US costs just $11,000 in India.

6. Health !! • 35.6 % reproductive age women have low BMI • 30 % women (25-49) gave birth before 18 years • 58 % women are married before legal age of 18 • 56 % married women have anaemia • 69.5 per cent of the children (6-59 mnth) have anaemia. • Just over 50 % mothers receive 3 or more ANC visits • Only 44 % children are fully immunized (NHFS-3)

7. Politics • 25% MPs have criminal records. • 99% MPs were elected despite getting less than 50% vote • We have one of the lowest voter turn out at 58%. • There are 173 registered political parties in India.

8. Economy • 40 richest Indians worth $170 Billion • 26% population still lives below official poverty line. • Orissa - Poverty rate is 43%, Bihar - Poverty rate is 41% (Below Malawi and Ghana : one of the poorest countries in the world) • Haryana - Poverty rate is 5.7 % Punjab - Poverty rate is 2.4 % (Better than Costa rica, one of the most developed countries of South America)

9. Economy !! • 100 millions Indians are unemployed. • 50 million child labour. • Our manufacturing sector 1/5th of China Contributes only 17% to GDP. • 60% of country is still employed in Agriculture Contribute only 22% to GDP.

10. Education • 33% of all illiterates of world live in India. In china this figure is just 11%. • There are 200 millions children in India 50 millions do not go to School. • 80,000 Schools are without Blackboard. • 1,44,000 Schools have just one teacher. • Literacy rate is 67% which was just 14% in 1947

11. Housing • 100 million people live in slums. • 30 millions house are required for lower and middle class. • In Human Development Report of 177 nations, India is at 127th place. (China is at 85th and Sri Lanka at 93rd )

12. Law & order • We have 13 Judges per million of population. • There are 3 Crore (30 million) pending cases in our courts 25.5 millions in District & Sub-district court 3.36 lakhs in High Court 39,000 in Supreme Court. • We have one of the lowest conviction rate just 42.4% Japan & Russia have 99% conviction rate.

13. Pollution • CO2 emission per ton per capita : India - 0.9, US - 19.5, China - 2.7 and Russia - 10.7 • Yet India generated 29,129 million litres per day of sewage out of which only 6190 MLD could be treated. • Over 50% of Urban India has no access to sanitation.

14. Telecom • Over 6 million people are getting connected every months. • Total usage 100 million, more than entire population of Germany 5th largest cellular market behind China, US, Japan & Russia. • At independence, there were 1.1. Million telephones. Now this number has reached 218 millions.

15. Power • 33% of electricity is lost or stolen during transmission and distribution. This theft rate is among highest in the world. • The total power production is 12% short of demand. • Only 44% rural household has access to power. • Rural household did not have power for 13-17 hours a day.

16. Corruption • India system - corrupt system. • Cost of corruption for India? Rs 2.5 lakh crores for 2009! • Bribes for basic health services Rs. 8824 crores (India Corruption study 2008). • 3 crores households had to pay bribes during 2008. • Agriculture, Health, Education, Law and Order • Beurocratic system !!

17. Why so ? • High population growth rate • Agrarian form of economy • Primitive agricultural practices • Illiteracy • Ignorance • Unemployment and underemployment • Caste based politics • Urban rural divide • Social iniquity and discrimination etc etc.

18. How to combat corruption ? • Acts and Laws Right to Information Act 2005 - Use it Citizens' Charter • Agencies involved in combating corruption Government of India Agencies, Voluntary bodies • Organized Crime, Corruption and Indian Knowledge and Action Corruption and Citizens Pressure on social and political bodies Leadership

19. Still we have time… • To enjoy IPL matches • On Miss World and Universe shows • What’s going on in Abhi-Ash personal life • Launch of new Mercedes Benz • Green card dream and Flying abroad for job Is desk ka kuch nahi ho sakta …. • How many times we have cared for our own country and our own problems ? • No nation is born great - we have to make it great

20. ‘So long as the millions live in hunger and ignorance, I hold every man a traitor who, having been educated at their expense, pays not the least heed to them.’ Swami Vivekananda

21. Any thought !! Mail me drshibsekhar.datta@rediffmail.com