A rich nation that has remained poor

India is a rich nation. We are culturally rich, emotionally rich and intellectually rich. When the rest of the world wore leaves, we were busy inventing steel. When the rest of the world had not yet awakened to the light of learning, we were studying science. We had invented the Zero much before the others saw the dawn of civilization.

Rich in all walks of life! Things Indian are so cool outside India. Bhangra and Indipop figure in the US pop charts. Indians are heading global corporations and some of the top scientists in NASA are Indian too.

But, we are a rich nation that has remained poor…

Let’s look at some startling statistics on India’s poor status.

Four out of every ten Indians today live below the poverty line.

While we smugly rejoice that ours is a country with the most qualified, educated human resource, we try to ignore the data that 30% of the world’s illiterate population hails from and resides in India.

Every night, over 200 million people go to bed hungry, a number far exceeding that of the combined population of Canada and the USA. If all the food grains lying unused in our warehouses were to be packed in gunny bags and placed one after the other, it would make a path to the moon and back. Yet this country bears the cross of over 200 million starving Indians.

We raised a hue and cry when 50 people died of plague because its effect was also felt by the rich sector of our economy, but no one raises even a whimper for the 4,50,000 people who die of tuberculosis every year and half a million people who suffer from diarrhea every day.

Studying the agriculture scene in our country leaves you with little confidence! China produces 450 million tonnes of food grain from just 60% arable land compared to India while India produces a mere 200 million tonnes. The Chinese have achieved this primarily by creating excellent irrigation facilities. Irrigation requires basic investment, which we don’t seem to have.

Another important machinery of a true democracy, the Judiciary. We have 10 judges to every 10 Lakh people in India while USA has 120. A recent survey conducted reveals that there is a backlog of more than 30 million court cases in India and on an average it takes 20 years to resolve a dispute. Yes, it is another matter that resolved disputes don’t necessarily mean justice done. Very often the criminal gets away scot-free. Isn’t justice delayed justice denied?

An extract from "The Great Indian Dream" by Mr.Arindam Chaudhuri