Children say Nine is Mine
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New Delhi: According to the calculations by the United Nations, India’s spending on public health, as a share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is the 18th lowest in the world, allocating only one per cent of the GDP to health. While the spending on education is between 3-4%.
To press for the demand that investment on education and health be hiked to 9% of the GDP, the children here in New Delhi held a press conference as part of the campaign “Nine is Mine’ spearheaded by the Wada Na Todo Abhiyan (Keep Your Promise Campaign). On the occasion, a petition signed in this regard by 300,001 children was presented to Planning Commission member Prof Abhijit Sen for delivering it to the Finance Minister. Laxmi Gudillu, a 12-year old girl living in Mumbai slums was the last to sign the petition on a giant replica of the signature postcard. Earlier releasing the report, Ensuring Universal Access to Health and Education in India, brought out by the Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, Prof Abhijit Sen said that although the report is “little bit out of date” but extremely informative. A national-level coalition of over 3,000 civil society organisations and networks across 23 states, Wada Na Todo Abhiyan is in the forefront of taking several initiatives to remind the government of the promises that it has made to the people. To utter disappointment of the campaigners, Prof Sen was categorical: “If you expect 9% this year, it is not going to happen,” adding that this is more likely to happen at the end of five years. The report was also released simultaneously in 10 states on the eve of Children’s Day. Dr Vimla Ramachandran, one of the authors of the report, said that it was extremely important not to look at primary education as something that is standing alone, as the aspect of malnutrition and other health problems have to be taken into account, if this country has to universalise education. She also felt that even if the children want to pursue their studies, they cannot not, as the existing facilities do not permit them to pursue higher education. “For every three primary school, there is only one upper primary school. For every six upper primary schools, there is only one high secondary school,” she said. Another co-author Prof Imrana Qadeer emphasised that the biggest fault lies in the policy that is being pursued today: “This country is heading towards rampant privatisation of health care services without any regulatory mechanisms in place.” She added that all the subsidies meant earlier for state services are now being diverted to the private sector. This has led to a complete destruction of public health care system in this country. She was also critical of the manner in which the media and the government talk of changing pattern of diseases. “Today they talk of heart diseases, diabetes, hypertension and immunological diseases. They have stopped talking about the fact that even today a large number of people are dying in this country because of diseases like tuberculosis, diarrhea, pneumonia and malnutrition. Maintaining a silence on them does not mean that these killer diseases no longer exist,” she said. She said that it was ironical that on the one hand the government was busy promoting medical tourism and on the other its own people were left alone to die of diseases. Lysa John of Wada Na Todo, while agreeing with Imrana Qadeer that corrective measures must be taken at the policy level, reiterated that enhanced budgetary allocation would also make a lot of difference. |
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"Language bias against nonurban and poor"Author:
Dr D M Joshi
Time: 14.02.2008 09:25
Comment: Twenty years back at H. M. Patel Institute of English a Professor of English at Udaipur University castigated Marwari and was untiring in praising Hindi. This to me was one of many revelations how the "elite" of India holds contempt for the "uncultured" not very much different than what whites thought of Australian Aborigines. The Professors mother had raised him with her Marwari only.
Gandhians of Gujarat working in Tribal regions, mostly of South Gujarat too got tribals to take oath not to speak their languages even in their homes. Yes many children drop out because they have to earn early but quite a few of better off parents too drop out because of disparaging attitude of their teachers towards the languages children bring to the classrooms. This is of course one reason why "educated" Indians are incapable to stand up to their overlords but there are more sinister reasons why "educated" Indians suffer from lack of moral strength. Read www.dmjoshi.org |
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