In the largest world democracy of India, 830 million out of its 1.10 billion population still live in abject poverty earning just 20 rupees (40 pence) despite 61 years of so called prestigious democracy. In the Indian Lok Sabas 543 seats: over 100 MPs' are billionaires; 180 million are multi-millionaires; 150 MPs are facing trials for murders, rapes, embezzlement and in 2004, 138 MPs were on trial. 22% of the world population live in India and 40% are down trodden untouchables who carry this stigma of Untouchables from birth to their death and until the end of this universe in the largest democracy.
In India 20.7 million babies are born on average each year but over 3.5 million do not live to their next birthday because of mal-nourishment, food shortage, disease and despicable habitation. Economists blame this demographic division because 49% of the Indian children under the age of six are malnourished, as evident from their skinny limbs, pale faces, empty stares and the plight of the miserable environment in which they live and grow.
After 61 years of independence, India has achieved kuch nahi - nothing - for the 650 million Indian rural poor who live in abject poverty and cannot afford one meal a day, and are trapped in a miserable world without any prospects. They were poor 61 years ago and are even poorer now after 61 years despite India's rapid and steady economic growth of 8% for the last 10 years. In 2007, the Asian Development Bank released a report confirming that despite the boom, the gap between the Indian rich and poor has widened beyond belief. One of the reasons for this gap is bad planning, failure to invest in health, education and social welfare, which has left hundreds of millions of poor Indians without any hope and dangerously low on survival prospects in their iniquitous society riddled with the Hindu caste system. The majority of these rural poor living in grinding poverty earn as little as 40 pence 80 US cents a day doing every menial job available when they migrate to towns and cities looking for work, and have to live in the worst slumps seen in the world. This poverty trap will never be broken in India as long as its poor are treated as untouchables and sub-humans.
As the Indian few multi-multi billionaires, billionaires and multi-millionires rich grow fatter and fatter at the expense of the poor, it is alarming many economic pundits that this inequality and disparity could easily backfire and jeopardize the Indian claim to be the largest democracy. Increasingly the rural poor are getting agitated, and in October 2007, 200,000 villagers from 25 villages across India marched to the capital to protest and demonstrate against their neglect by their corrupt government of the rich for the rich and democracy of the rich, for the rich and by the rich. One has only to look at the outskirts of Indian big cities to find abject poverty in which over 700 million poor people live. It is worst than the rats live and survive in the sewage drains. Indian democracy is a rich mans sick joke on a poor mans misery and wrethced existence and struggle for survival. In fact, the Indian. "Democracy is of the rich, for the rich and by the rich."
The Indian model of so called 'largest democracy' is also the biggest poverty ridden country in the world. In the USA, the senate and Congress have many members who protect the interests of mafia, arms manufacturers, oil moguls and financial crooks and fraudsters. In the UK, in the recent revelation of MPs dishonest and greedy expense claims reflected that they were and will always remain interested in their own wallets and pockets more than their constituents. As a matter of fact liberal democracy encourages crooks, criminals, fraudsters and greedy to flourish at the expense of millions of poor and deprived of a society. Democracy is not a solution to the miserable lives of billions of have nots and wretched poor but a continuation of a bigger misery under the so called respectable, democracy.
Indian farmers left without money due to failing crops, debt-ridden farmers in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh, have reportedly been selling their wives to money lenders for Rs 4,000 - 12,000 (50-150). The more beautiful the woman, the higher the price that she fetches, it was claimed. The deals are allegedly being settled on a legal stamp paper under the heading "Vivaha Anubandh" meaning Marriage Contract. Once the new "husband" is tired of the woman, she is allegedly sold to another man.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) is now sending a team to investigate the reports. Girija Vyas, chief of the NCW, said: "It is awful and unbelievable that it still happens in the country, and that too in Uttar Pradesh where the chief minister is a woman.
"We are sending a team to find out the details and have asked for the report within 24 hours." She added that the commission had also written a letter to the state's chief minister. One of the victims said: "My husband sold me to another man for Rs 8,000 (100) only. My buyer took me to the court to make our wedding look legal. During the trip I got the chance to escape." In most cases, the women are illiterate and cannot read what is written in the "contract".
A farmer who helped expose the situation to the Indian media said he is now being harassed. "I was summoned to the police station and questioned," the man who is known only as Kalicharan said. "I told them I had spoken to the media because no one was listening to us. But they threatened me and said I was lying. My wife was also called to the police station." With reports suggesting that thousands of farmers in the region are involved, the situation has spiralled into a major political crisis. Opposition parties are blaming the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government led by chief minister Mayawati for the problem. The state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said: "It is a painful situation. I am sending a team of Congress workers to help these women." A spokesman for leading opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, said: "Both the BSP-led state government and the Congress at the centre are responsible for this. "The centre has been talking of creating a separate authority for Bundelkhand while some factions want a state. Nobody is helping these farmers."
Indian democracy is a rich mans sick joke on a poor mans misery and wrethced existence and struggle for survival. In fact, the Indian. "Democracy is of the rich, for the rich and by the rich." This reminds me about a story of a poor Indian farmer who could only afford to buy one loaf of bread every week to feed his family but on the other hand, his master bought as many loaves, cakes, meat, vegetables, rice and feed his dogs as well. Things got worse for the farmer when he found out that his master was sleeping with his daughter. He withdrew his services as his democratic right and refused to plant the wheat crop. This caused a massive protest by his fellow worker causing price of loaf to double and then treble.
The poor farmer ran out of his savings and became penniless and his were starving. The master was still rich but bought provided his family with plenty of food. The farmer's wife got very mad at her husband for not making any money from selling the crop and seeing her children starveling. She had no other alternative but to go and plead with her husbands master for a small loan. He agreed but on the condition that she would have to go to bed with him, which she conceded. So, she earned enough money to feed her entire family. One day at the dinner table, the farmer said to the wife that his decision to withdraw his labor force was right after all but asked her: how do you manage to deed us all? The wife smiled and told him to enjoy his dinner and not to ask questions, I have democratic rights; you know, and I have used them. Often decisions have unintended consequences.
I hope that Dr Farooq Saleem finds time to read my article.
In India 20.7 million babies are born on average each year but over 3.5 million do not live to their next birthday because of mal-nourishment, food shortage, disease and despicable habitation. Economists blame this demographic division because 49% of the Indian children under the age of six are malnourished, as evident from their skinny limbs, pale faces, empty stares and the plight of the miserable environment in which they live and grow.
After 61 years of independence, India has achieved kuch nahi - nothing - for the 650 million Indian rural poor who live in abject poverty and cannot afford one meal a day, and are trapped in a miserable world without any prospects. They were poor 61 years ago and are even poorer now after 61 years despite India's rapid and steady economic growth of 8% for the last 10 years. In 2007, the Asian Development Bank released a report confirming that despite the boom, the gap between the Indian rich and poor has widened beyond belief. One of the reasons for this gap is bad planning, failure to invest in health, education and social welfare, which has left hundreds of millions of poor Indians without any hope and dangerously low on survival prospects in their iniquitous society riddled with the Hindu caste system. The majority of these rural poor living in grinding poverty earn as little as 40 pence 80 US cents a day doing every menial job available when they migrate to towns and cities looking for work, and have to live in the worst slumps seen in the world. This poverty trap will never be broken in India as long as its poor are treated as untouchables and sub-humans.
As the Indian few multi-multi billionaires, billionaires and multi-millionires rich grow fatter and fatter at the expense of the poor, it is alarming many economic pundits that this inequality and disparity could easily backfire and jeopardize the Indian claim to be the largest democracy. Increasingly the rural poor are getting agitated, and in October 2007, 200,000 villagers from 25 villages across India marched to the capital to protest and demonstrate against their neglect by their corrupt government of the rich for the rich and democracy of the rich, for the rich and by the rich. One has only to look at the outskirts of Indian big cities to find abject poverty in which over 700 million poor people live. It is worst than the rats live and survive in the sewage drains. Indian democracy is a rich mans sick joke on a poor mans misery and wrethced existence and struggle for survival. In fact, the Indian. "Democracy is of the rich, for the rich and by the rich."
The Indian model of so called 'largest democracy' is also the biggest poverty ridden country in the world. In the USA, the senate and Congress have many members who protect the interests of mafia, arms manufacturers, oil moguls and financial crooks and fraudsters. In the UK, in the recent revelation of MPs dishonest and greedy expense claims reflected that they were and will always remain interested in their own wallets and pockets more than their constituents. As a matter of fact liberal democracy encourages crooks, criminals, fraudsters and greedy to flourish at the expense of millions of poor and deprived of a society. Democracy is not a solution to the miserable lives of billions of have nots and wretched poor but a continuation of a bigger misery under the so called respectable, democracy.
Indian farmers left without money due to failing crops, debt-ridden farmers in Bundelkhand, Uttar Pradesh, have reportedly been selling their wives to money lenders for Rs 4,000 - 12,000 (50-150). The more beautiful the woman, the higher the price that she fetches, it was claimed. The deals are allegedly being settled on a legal stamp paper under the heading "Vivaha Anubandh" meaning Marriage Contract. Once the new "husband" is tired of the woman, she is allegedly sold to another man.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) is now sending a team to investigate the reports. Girija Vyas, chief of the NCW, said: "It is awful and unbelievable that it still happens in the country, and that too in Uttar Pradesh where the chief minister is a woman.
"We are sending a team to find out the details and have asked for the report within 24 hours." She added that the commission had also written a letter to the state's chief minister. One of the victims said: "My husband sold me to another man for Rs 8,000 (100) only. My buyer took me to the court to make our wedding look legal. During the trip I got the chance to escape." In most cases, the women are illiterate and cannot read what is written in the "contract".
A farmer who helped expose the situation to the Indian media said he is now being harassed. "I was summoned to the police station and questioned," the man who is known only as Kalicharan said. "I told them I had spoken to the media because no one was listening to us. But they threatened me and said I was lying. My wife was also called to the police station." With reports suggesting that thousands of farmers in the region are involved, the situation has spiralled into a major political crisis. Opposition parties are blaming the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) government led by chief minister Mayawati for the problem. The state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi said: "It is a painful situation. I am sending a team of Congress workers to help these women." A spokesman for leading opposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, said: "Both the BSP-led state government and the Congress at the centre are responsible for this. "The centre has been talking of creating a separate authority for Bundelkhand while some factions want a state. Nobody is helping these farmers."
Indian democracy is a rich mans sick joke on a poor mans misery and wrethced existence and struggle for survival. In fact, the Indian. "Democracy is of the rich, for the rich and by the rich." This reminds me about a story of a poor Indian farmer who could only afford to buy one loaf of bread every week to feed his family but on the other hand, his master bought as many loaves, cakes, meat, vegetables, rice and feed his dogs as well. Things got worse for the farmer when he found out that his master was sleeping with his daughter. He withdrew his services as his democratic right and refused to plant the wheat crop. This caused a massive protest by his fellow worker causing price of loaf to double and then treble.
The poor farmer ran out of his savings and became penniless and his were starving. The master was still rich but bought provided his family with plenty of food. The farmer's wife got very mad at her husband for not making any money from selling the crop and seeing her children starveling. She had no other alternative but to go and plead with her husbands master for a small loan. He agreed but on the condition that she would have to go to bed with him, which she conceded. So, she earned enough money to feed her entire family. One day at the dinner table, the farmer said to the wife that his decision to withdraw his labor force was right after all but asked her: how do you manage to deed us all? The wife smiled and told him to enjoy his dinner and not to ask questions, I have democratic rights; you know, and I have used them. Often decisions have unintended consequences.
I hope that Dr Farooq Saleem finds time to read my article.
