India, frontrunner in economic growth! But for whom?

"It is a fact that in any cross-country comparison, India still remains among the front-runners in economic growth," the Finance Minister said proudly, at the beginning of his speech presenting the Union budget 2012-13. Just one day before the Finance Minster presented the budget, beginning with this impressive fact, the Economic Survey for 2011-12 was released. The survey restated India’s low ranking status, as low as 134 out of 187 countries on the Human Development Index ranking.

The reason for India being ranked so low on the HDI is primarily because of India’s bad statistics on health and education. It is definitely commendable that the dropout rates in schools have come down to a large extent and enrollments have shot up.

However, when more than 47% of children are malnourished, naturally their performance at school is going to be low, creating a dearth in quality human resources in the future. A strength that is one of the primary reasons for India’s fast paced economic growth.

With food prices and health expenses shooting off the thatched roofs of millions of poor, this budget was supposed to inspire hope and provide comfort to the poor, especially children, who constitute over 40% of India’s population and are the future of this nation.

The total allocation of budget for children this year too, has not crossed the 4 percent mark. 4.76% of the total budget is the allocation for children. India may be the frontrunner in economic growth, but how long will it run from it’s responsibility towards children. 4.76% for 440 million children is unacceptable.

The 4.76% when spilt into sectors - education is 72% (includes SSA, mid day meal Scheme and other ministries) Health gets 3.8% (includes funds from Immunisation programmes, RCH etc…), and protection 0.93%.

The Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) allocation though said to be given a 58% increase from 2011-12 allocations. As against the proportion total expenditure, there has been no increase. It is 1.06% of the total budget in both 2011-2012 (RE) and 2012-2013 (BE). 

The multi sectoral programme to address maternal and child malnutrition in 200 selected high burden districts is welcome. But the allocation for ICDS does not reflect a sense of urgency in bringing down the high malnutrition numbers.

The 12^th Plan working group made an allocation recommendation of 36600 crores and the Centre for Budget Governance Alliance (CBGA) had estimated (on the basis of the norms and guidelines of ICDS) that Rs. 87757 crores is required in the Union Budget (’12-’13) to universalise ICDS. But the budget allocation this year is only 15850 crores.

And with plans to revamp Anganwadis and the increased honorarium for Anganwadi workers, one wonders if this minimal increase would actually curtail ‘the national shame’ of high malnourishment statistics in any way. The Mid-Day Meal scheme as against the percentage of total expenditure remains unchanged as well. 

While over 47% of children being malnourished and India falling in the ‘alarming’ range of hunger in the Global hunger Index, The National Food Security Bill is still before the standing committee. And the budget has not inspired hope nor provided comfort in any form to the faces behind the shameful statistics of malnutrition and hunger. The problem of malnutrition is not in the statistics. It is in the humiliation. The budget should have implemented decisive steps to provide food security.

During the budget speech the Finance Minister quoted from Shakespeare’s Hamlet, saying “…I must be cruel only to be kind…” Though stated humorously, one wonders if we are actually being cruel to the 440 million children who absolutely do not have any voice in any of the surfeit of economic lobbying that goes behind budget allocations. 

Despite having a high economic growth rate, India is still far behind many countries, including developing countries in various development indicators related to children. When the rights and priorities of over 40% of the nation, who are the future of this nation, are being ignored, can we afford to lift our collar and boast about our high economic growth rate? For whom is it growing? 

India’s socio-political instability: are we heading to a brink?

If it’s becoming difficult for people from middle class families to afford fruits and milk (the food with rich nutrient contents), imagine the poor man’s world. India remains this hungry republic that’s dealing with the same famished problems it dealt 60 years ago and how many years more do we need to minimise this national hunger once and for all.


Global research company Ipsos in its poll rates Indians as among the happiest people on earth – the other contesting argument is that, Ipsos has perhaps not gone to our underserved villages and slums. This is the India, where farmers and youth suicides are high because of the absence of hope.


While NDTV’s Pranoy Roy and nobel laureatte Amartya Sen (on a TV debate), express worries over how 40% of the food meant for the poor not reaching them– hundreds of sacks full of grains go waste in government go-downs all over the country. The Public Distribution System that worked well on paper is perhaps practically jinxed forever and all national policies work well till the state level, but excecutions of the same, reach bottle necks as they trickle further down to district, block and village levels – the primary losers are those in the margins.


Is this the problem of not having a caring and effective governance system? is it fair to say that we have the systems but leaders at all levels lack the care or is it mere Indian mentality? There are more indicators that point toward this country heading into social catastrophy of sort, if the key social actors continue to act poorly. People talk about the emergence of the third front - is that the consequence of national unhappiness, the problem as some see it, is not only with one political party nor the political class who are always in the spotlight, all of us  (civil society included) could be responsble.


The lip-service for the cause of aam admi should be translated into providing affordable food and shelter – to avoid social consequences like riots. For now, these rates are increasingly becoming more unaffordable. 


India could well be on the brink of people up in arms against the corrupt establishment, similar to what happened in the Arab world. The “Occupy Wall Street’ movement is another manifestation of this trend. Greed versus Grievances – The moaist unrest along the red corridor, the goondaism of the northern states, the undergrounds in the northeast and the uneasy calm in J&K will reach new insurgent points. 


This nation can’t afford to move ahead if she doesn’t include every child, woman and man of the soil in its developmnent story. On the other hand, history tells us that Indian resilience has withstood the test of times, the riots and the terror attacks. Will it stand firm this time round – it better be.


- Kitkupar Shangpliang, Social Communicator - World Vision India.

The Social Observer is not some intellectual geek. She does not do some sort of a  broad social research which hardly anyone understands, except perhaps the society of emeritus social professors (if such a group even exists) . She is but a student who seeks to learn many things about this society we live in and unlike what the name might suggest she does not merely 'observe'. She interacts, she wrestles, she grapples with, she ponders... She then writes all her thoughts down for the rest of us to read.
She tries hard to put all her prejudices and biases behind her. Yet sometimes they have to come tumbling down by what she sees and hears. Which is why she has another name- Sober Sundari. Sober hates it when she finds dead ends, or hopeless situations. She sees social malaise and treats them with her own remedies of simplicity and mind blowing innovation. Or at-least she tries really really hard.
On this particular day Sober visits a village in Bihar. Bihar is one of India's poorest states, or is it?

Sober Sundari in Bihar


There has to be a point in every Indian’s life when they wake up one morning and ask themselves- how is it that 5000 children in our nation die from preventable causes before the age of five? Shockingly a lack of nourishment or a lack of good healthy food is the underlying cause for 60 percent of these deaths.
I am a rather concerned Indian, and one fine morning I asked myself just that- 5000 children? Surely that cannot be right? When a shocking statistic like that is brandished, I tend to react in the most inexplicable ways. This morning for instance I got myself a train ticket to Bihar. After reaching Patna I took another train to Madhepura and I visited the Kumarkhand Area Development program (ADP) of World Vision India.
There is a reason why I choose this particular program. They had done a survey in the villages that they work in and they found out that 46% of the children below the age of five are malnourished. So I figured it will be great to see what the situation is like firsthand.    
So what will I find? Is there any sort of solution to this problem that plagues our nation. What does a humanitarian organization like World Vision India do in these circumstances? I will finish this article next month after I finish my visit...