India is home to approximately 1/3rd of the world's poorest people. In a national economic survey last year, it was authoritatively reported that around 830 million people of our 1 billion population, live on Rs 20 or less per day. This is a national shame; and a far greater tragedy than all the terror attacks on our country. When we say India is moving towards becoming a super power in the next decade, and that our Technology revolution is creating a new middle class and new market, we seem to be talking about a small fraction of India.The facts are India is far from becoming a superpower, and can barely lay claim to even being described as a nation breaking the barrier of "developing nation" into that of a "developed nation. India as a nation is still vastly underdeveloped. After 60 years of independence, if we still have more than 80% of our population in poverty, it is a loud statement about the priorities of successive governments over the last 5 decades. The Congress party which had been in power for almost all this time, save 5-6 years of BJP led Governments has to take the responsibility squarely for this.Even opposition parties , in recent times, have been carried away by issues like national security/terrorism etc, which , while extremely important, are nowhere near impacting the lives of 90% of people in India. Why should a poor rural family struggling to provide 2 meals for their children , worry about luxury hotels in a metropolitan city being attacked by terrorists ? As far as these poor families are concerned, it would make little or no difference to them whether Jihadis were marching down Parliament road in New Delhi or if the British were ruling India still. This is a stark reality that has escaped the entire political class, who seem to place more emphasis on what the English news channels are reporting everyday on their idea of India which is so far removed from reality that the political leadership too runs the risk of being caught up in this fantasy land.
There are TWO Indias today. An urban, English speaking Tv and computer savvy India who seem to be so caught up in their own imagined representative power, and a rural, poor and struggling India to whom neither the Internet nor International affairs makes any difference to their lives and no one ever gives this India a voice. We talk about the stock market casino economy all the time, we work ourselves up into mass hysteria about financial slowdown, economic crisis, terror attacks in cities, cricket mania, spicy news about movie stars etc, NONE of which is an issue for nearly 90% of our population. This makes our country a bunch of hypocrites, a small 10% of the population living in a make believe world that it is THEY who matter and reflect India. This includes business leaders, upper middle class, lower middle class, media and all other Indians who actually see Mahatma Gandhi's face on a Rs 100 currency note...90% of India DO NOT see a 100 rupee note every day, and to this huge part of India, inflation fluctuating between 10% and 12 % , Sensex falling by a 100 points, world oil prices falling by $10 per barrel, and terrorists opening an office on Marine drive; ALL these things are completely irrelevant.
I hope and pray Shri Advaniji takes note of this; and make poverty alleviation the single most important item of his administration , should he become the next Prime Minister. It is not only necessary but even makes better political sense to make poverty alleviation as the top most election plank for the NDA . Advaniji should announce a specific blue print for this issue and also creation of a ministry specially meant for poverty alleviation, directly under the charge of the Prime minister. Every other ministry like Agriculture, infrastructure, health, education etc should orient their programs completely in relation to the stated goals of this ministry. This ministry should take up national projects like road construction, power, etc in coordination with state govts; and ensure that each family earns a minimum of Rs 200 per day within 3 years of the next Govt taking over. India's poverty and 85% of this country being given a better standard of living, is something that is a non negotiable factor. This and this alone would form the core part of Surajya or good governance that Advaniji speaks about often.
(extracted from www.lkadvani.in)
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