From my Diary - Below Poverty Line

September 13, 2008 Recently the World Bank published a document indicating that Appx 1 in every 10 Indian is below the poverty line, considering their earning below $ 1.25 / day as the bench mark for the poverty line. That means roughly about 25 million Indians are below the poverty line. However as per the Government's statistics about 20 million Indians are below the poverty line. The Government considers 2400 kcal / day food intake as the bench mark for the poverty line. They may and certainly will refute the WB figures. But that hardly is an issue, because whether it is 20 or 25 million, it is a big number, and we should be ashamed about it because all the tom tomming about Harit Kranti ( Green Revolution ), GDP rate of growth, Industrialization, Globalization etc have still not given us enough reasons to Smile. Certainly the Inclusive Growth concept is still missing. But consider the other aspects and you see a different picture. Consider the grwoth in Industrialization, Infra structure, one really gets a feel good feeling. Take for instance the growth in number of telephones connected over the years, number of TVs sold every year, number of cars sold every year and the number of models launched every year, the mind boggling growth in sales of computers, number of mobiles sold every year, number of white goods sold etc etc, you really feel great and get a feeling that India is Shining. But then these numbers are totally misleading because these do not give the real picture, that is of 70 - 80 percent of the country covered by villages and villagers. The very fact that a single flood, the KOSI Flood has caused havoc and rendered around 3 million people home less in Bihar, is reflective of our real poverty. 6 decades should have been good enough for us to eradicate poverty. Let us learn from our mistakes in the past and put our foot on the accelerator and take all measures to see that eradication of illiteracy, poverty is achieved at least by 2020. And like these two ailments the others like Good Health and Good Shelter for all too are totally eradicated from the scene. Un - Employment will automatically get solved, in my opinion. I think we will then also be able to fulfil the vision 2020 envisioned by honourable Dr. Abdul Kalam, and i twould no longer remain a pipe dream. It is then only that we can take pride and say INDIA IS SHINING.