Political Diary

New Delhi, 20 July 2013

Adulterated Sick India

ANOTHER DEAD? SO WHAT!

By Poonam I Kaushish

Life in India is cheap, cheaper than the sky-rocketing vegetable prices. Wherein babies sell for Rs 20 and ginger costs Rs 200 and lemon Rs 150! Worse, none cares if people die its fewer mouths to feed. Why? Our Sarkar doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the aam aadmi!

Last week’s tragedy in a Bihar school bears this out. More than 20 children died after eating a mid-day meal cooked in oil spiked with pesticide, bought from the principal’s husband shop. More scandalous, not only did the State Government ignore repeated warnings about the meals quality but returned Rs 432 crores lying unspent for over five years. Resulting in panicky parents banning children from touching meals State-wide.

Notably Bihar is not an isolated case. Children regularly die or take ill from a scheme touted as one of the flagship anti-poverty programmes to provide one nutritious meal a day to 120 million children across the country from the poorest families.

In Goa 28 kids suffered food-poisoning after eating the mid-day meal at a Government school. In April 11 teenagers took ill in Gujarat’s Aswara, near Ahmedabad and 72 in Surat. Last year 132 children fell sick post their meal in Maharashtra’s Pune and 50 in Karnataka’s Mangalore.

Alas, given our dismal governance standards the deaths were inevitable given the rampant corruption wherein food meant for children is sold in the black market. Worse, dead lizards, frogs, insects and rats are a regular feature in food under this scheme.

Even as our netagan play-out the hackneyed blame game and merrily make political capital out of a tragedy, they forget that sound and fury, signifies nothing. Thereby, standing testimony to a callous, heartless and selfish country and raising a moot point: Is the aam aadmi’s well-being merely about statistics?  Or is the Government becoming a maut ka saudagar?

Think. Nearly 50% of the world's hungry live in India, of which over 35% (350 million) are food-insecure, consuming less than 80% of the minimum energy requirements. Over 65% of India’s 1.2 billion people lack basic sanitation. Over 900,000 Indians die every year from drinking contaminated water and breathing polluted air.

More than half of the children under five are severely malnourished, or suffer from stunting. Consequently malnutrition causes high rate of infant mortality which, in turn, inhibits population control. Thus, we are busy procreating diseased infants which eventually will translate into a sick nation.

In Mamata Banerjee's Bengal, where administration has collapsed countless infants die in Government hospitals. In Malda’s one hospital alone 109 kids died in 2011 and 200 last year. This year, till date the toll is already 52. In UP, scandalously a rickshaw puller was asked to administer an injection to an infant who died soon afterwards.

Underscored a World Health Organization official, “If a child doesn’t die within five years of birth due to malnutrition and diarrhea, acute respiratory infection will get him later.”

Shockingly, nearly one million Indians die every year due to inadequate healthcare facilities and 700 million have no access to specialist care as 80% of specialists live in urban areas. Experts have predicted 3.75 million deaths due to cardiovascular diseases this year, out of which a whopping 2 million will die due to heart attacks or coronary artery diseases (CAD).

As it stands, India totals one-third of the world’s TB cases. And is one of the four countries worldwide along with Nigeria, Pakistan and Afghanistan where polio has not been eradicated.

Clearly, India’s public health is in the ICU notwithstanding the Government’s cut throat projections and assertions of ‘all is well’! How can it be when consistent public investment in health is barely 1% of the GDP? In 2010 the spending was four per cent ---- less than many African countries or Afghanistan and a fraction of developed nations, which spend around 10 per cent.

Bluntly, the aam janata does not count. In fact, never has. It is their vote stupid, not them. Look at the daily drudgery and grind for sheer survival. It’s not about rummaging in dustbins or satiating our hunger on the enticing neon lights of fast foods. Nor about knocking at the doors of the providers of basic necessities:  roti, kapada aur makan along-side bijli, sarak, paani.

The malaise goes far deeper. Touch anything it is adulterated and even poisonous.  From the air we breathe, to medicines, spices, vegetables, fruits, milk, tea, coffee, salt et al. Just think of the magnitude. Mobil oil is smeared on vegetables to make them look nice and shiny, spices are spiced up with dyes, used to make chilies redder, or horse dung packaged as dhania (coriander).

Love your morning cup of tea or coffee? Think again, it is laced with coal tar. Bananas and mangoes are exposed to calcium carbide to make them ripen fast. If your milk and by- products like paneer and ice-cream taste soapy its thanks to washing powder and the vanaspati is rancid animal fat. Even money which makes the world go round is fake.

According to food experts, over 90% of the stuff being sold is adulterated. Asserted a specialist, “Adulteration takes place at every stage ---- right from production to the sale point. The toxicity just keeps increasing at every stage. Leading to serious health hazards.” All for money and underhand deals. 

Who should one turn for redemption and solace? The administrative system has practically collapsed. Arguably, when the bureaucracy comes adulterated in cheap polypacks, what is one to expect? Whereby, nothing moves without greasing of palms. Corruption moves the wheels of industry and synchronizes the gears of finance. We have the culture of plunder and taint at every level. Power is fertile territory for adulteration to feed on.  

The Prime Minister talks of providing a transparent, responsive and efficient administration. Brave words. If the Prime Minister is serious, first he has to come to grips with the increasing neta-babu nexus. Which only holds out promises of more misery, more wrenching news and more cries for the Government to act.

Where do we go from here? It all depends on our netagan. The Government can no longer bury its head in the sand. Our leaders need to respect human life. To foresee is to govern. Good governance is not an option, it is a matter of life and death. Time is far gone to aver, Kohi baat nahi, ek aur mar gaya!

If India really wants to develop, it will have to find ways to back up laws with quality action, not shoddy tokenism. If we want to use our finest resource, we have to start taking our citizens seriously and treating them like worthwhile investments. Follow a ‘womb to tomb’ policy of keeping one well-fed. In the final crunch: Governance cannot be adulterated! ----- INFA

(Copyright, India News and Feature Alliance)