Guess who wrote this:
"Initially I wanted to take our politicians for task. I began to write but realised that for them I had only expletives and abuse of the filthiest kind,. I realised that the adjectives that were pouring out for them would never be published. My article would have been a series of "@%*$*%#"
"I leave you with one regret. How I wish the attack on Parliament had been as successful as the one Mumbai had to endure, then I would have thanked the terrorists for ridding us of these "F%$&#$G B#&%@%&S""
This is Tushar Gandhi, founder-president, Mahatma Gandhi Foundation, writing in The Financial Chronicle (1.12.2008), page 11.
I can understand his anger, but I am shocked at the overflow of rage. Would we be better off with all our MPs shot dead by terrorists?
We seethe with anger, and want immediate action, and are voluble about the necessity for change. But see this: just three reports I noted thins week:
I don't set out to be popular, my thinking is, if you want to think independently, you should first of all question your own feelings, your own first reactions. Speak to an individual, never speak for a group. And it is important to ask uncomfortable questions, because if you don't address them, sooner or later, you will have to search for impossible answers.
We seethe with anger, and want immediate action, and are voluble about the necessity for change. But see this: just three reports I noted this week:
According to the the
Education for All (EFA) Global Monitoring Report of the UNESCO, India has sustained one of the world's highest economic growths for the last two decades, but in social indicators for child mortality, nutrition and child health, India lags far behind Bangladesh and Nepal with lower levels of income and economic growth. If India had reduced child mortality to Bangladesh levels, it would have had 200,000 fewer deaths in 2006.
About 2,00,000 children die every year, most of them due to malnutrition (46% of our children are underweight)- and no interest in the media, no one asks the Health Minister of whoever to resign, no one wants to kill all the politicians. Why is that?
According to
India State Hunger Index published by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, "When Indian states are compared to countries in the 2008 Global Hunger Index, Madhya Pradesh ranks between the war and famine ravaged Ethiopia and Chad... In fact India’s rate of child malnutrition is higher than in famine ravaged Sub-Saharan Africa ...more than a fifth of India's population, more than 200 million, the largest in the world, is already hungry"
What is our reaction to this? Do we feel any pain or outrage? Madhya Pradesh fares worse than Ethiopia and Chad! Do we ask its Chief Minister to go? India’s rate of child malnutrition is higher than in famine ravaged Sub-Saharan Africa What is our reaction to it? More than a fifth of India's population, more than 200 million, the largest in the world, is already hungry- and how do we feel about this?
According to data released by the
Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPRD), the Indian police force is under-manned, inadequately-trained and ill-equipped. According to Bloomberg, which cites a report of the Institute of Peace and conflict Studies, India has an average of 122 policemen for every 100,000 people. This is much lower than the United Nations' average of 222 How much do we spend on training each of these scarce policemen, who shoulder more responsibility? A measly Rs 1,975 per policeman every year, that is the all India average. In 2006, governments spent a meagre Rs 12,488 per policeman per month. That includes the salary of the policeman, so you can imagine how little would be left over for anything else..
If you are underprepared in a vital matter such as internal security, the terrorist attack on Mumbai comes as no surprise. Did anyone in the media go hysterical over this? Did we ask for the resignation of the Home Minister, the Prime Minister?
The problem is, the media is obsessed with sensational reporting- and goading us into hysterics.
My suspicion is, these facts are easy to bear because they are not visceral. There is no face to the villain here, but with terrorism, you can put a face and name, so you are interested.
And far worse, these statistics are so boring. If poverty is an art film, terrorism is masala. We want to wage war against terror, but war on poverty? It is so dull and uneventful. Development is a bore, but terrorism- it is spectacular. That is where action is, so we feel drawn in, want to know more and more.
I do't understand people, really, here in India, the mentality of our citizen and media. Or else why do we feel such anguish and outrage over violent events, but apathy and indifference to silent suffering?
