Modi’s comments on Malnutrition in Gujarat- Derogatory and Childish!!!

My Letter to The Hindu dated 01-09-2012

Mr. Modi’s remark that his State has recorded high levels of malnutrition because the middle class is more beauty conscious than health conscious is immature and condemnable. Voluntary slimming has nothing to do with malnutrition, which is caused due to the unavailability of food and water. When Mr. Modi says Gujaratis are largely vegetarian, he obviously excludes Muslims. His comment is the latest in a series of episodes highlighting his lack of understanding and wisdom. In his book Karmayogi, he glorified the inhuman practice of manual scavenging as a spiritual experience. The fact that economic growth does not necessarily lead to reduced poverty is a cause for concern because the benefits are not trickling down to the poor. Mr. Modi should make the right efforts to make Gujarat a truly vibrant and inclusive State.

For your reading: The Hindu Editorial dated 01-09-2012   

The Modi index

So now we know why Gujarat has such appalling numbers when it comes to malnourished children. Asked by the Wall Street Journal what he was doing about the persistently high rates of malnutrition in his State, Chief Minister Narendra Modi lamented the fact that young girls just don’t listen to mummy. “If a mother tells her daughter to have milk, they’ll have a fight. She’ll tell her mother, ‘I won’t drink milk. I’ll get fat’.” As Mr. Modi put it to the WSJ, Gujarat is “a middle class state. The middle class is more beauty conscious than health conscious.” If Mr. Modi’s startling revelation is true, it is another feather in the cap for Golden Gujarat. This must be the only place on the planet where girl children under the age of three, driven by blind, anorexic ambition, defy their unfortunate mothers. For that’s what the malnourished child numbers are about. According to the last National Family Health Survey (NFHS), the percentage of underweight children in the State actually went up between NFHS-2 (1998-99) and NFHS-3 (2005-06). And that was largely on Mr. Modi’s watch. He became Chief Minister in October 2001.

The NFHS-3 tells us that 47 per cent of children below the age of three in the State were underweight. That figure was 45 per cent in NFHS-2. That’s about twice the average for sub-Saharan Africa. It is also marginally higher than the nationwide average of 46 per cent. The percentage of Gujarat’s children who are ‘wasted’ also went up from 16 to 17 per cent between the two NFHS surveys. Mr. Modi also suggested malnourishment is a problem because “Gujarat is by and large a vegetarian State.” An interesting line of argument, but one based on the preposterous assumption that a vegetarian diet is incapable of keeping the human body well nourished. Truth to tell, the question that stumped Mr. Modi is one that even professional economists have struggled to answer. Throughout the world, anthropometric indicators of human well-being tend to move in tandem with growth rates. This is what makes Gujarat, which is a prosperous State in the macroeconomic sense, something of a puzzle. Some of its human development indicators are as bad as or worse than India’s poorest States. Any serious administrator would have already studied this problem and started taking remedial steps. What makes Mr. Modi’s hokey answer so distressing is that the problem of child malnutrition is clearly not even on his radar as Chief Minister. “We will try to get a drastic change in this,” he lamely promised. Maybe we’re seeing the birth of a new measure of insensitivity, if not malnourishment. The Modi Index?

Amend the Constitution for upholding reservation for SC/STs in promotion.

Reservation is a social remedy not a social malady

Read how the Upper-caste readers spat venomous words against social justice in The Hindu dated 25-08-2012

Reservation

Now that the government has announced that it will amend the Constitution, if necessary, to provide reservation for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in promotions, I wonder whether quota is the only means to uplift the backward sections. When I was in school, I knew nothing about the caste system. I believed that all are equal. But when I grew up and was trying to secure admission to a college, I found that a friend got admission in a very prestigious institution without much effort.

When I asked him how it became possible, he said “ reservation hai yaar, mujhe to aise hi mil jata hai ” (thanks to reservation, I get admissions easily). Only then did the reality of the caste system sink in.

Ajit Mishra,

Kanpur

The UPA government is ready to amend the Constitution to provide promotion quota to those who have got a government job on quota. Where is our country headed?

Vinal Gupta,

Raipur

Reservation in promotions is unjust. It is not only the general category but also efficiency that will suffer. Lawmakers should take decisions in the interest of all.

Faninder Shekhar,

Chandigarh

The SCs and the STs have been discriminated against for thousands of years. They must be helped so that they can be brought on a par with the rest of society. But they cannot be allowed to overtake because of their caste. By extending reservation to promotions, we will do a great disservice to the nation.

K.C. Ramudu,

Kurnool

In this time and age when technology is making rapid strides and merit should matter, we are still talking about reservation for certain sections as if what has been done for them over the decades is inadequate.

Prabhu Raj,

Chennai

My response

It’s ironic that a reader carrying a caste tag like Mishra talks about ‘casteless society,’ ‘reservation as a divisive factor’ etc., Let these readers first remove their caste tags from their names and also have a look at the number of castes in the matrimonial advertisements. I really wonder whether they are reading the newspapers regularly. Had they read, they would have had firsthand information on caste bias and atrocities against the Dalits. Anyway, whatever is said and done, the psyche of the elites won’t change. That doesn’t mean that I should stop speaking to them. I should speak, speak, and speak till the deaf ears listen to the voice of the voiceless.      

My Letter to The Hindu dated 27-08-2012

One can understand the anger of the readers who oppose reservation in promotions. They fear that it will upset the apple cart of the ‘upper’ castes. The policy of reservation in employment has, no doubt, played an important role in the progress of the SCs and the STs. It has provided them a means of livelihood and social prestige. It has certainly ensured the first step towards equality. But the National Commission for SC/ST data shows that the presence of SCs in Group A and B categories is poor. They have been facing discrimination for ages and measures such as quota in promotions are necessary for their progress. The promotion process is not free from caste bias. The risk can be neutralised only through reservation.

North-East Exodus: A Blot on the Secular Fabric of our nation

Dear North East friends!! Please Come Back!!

The recent mass exodus of the North East people from Bangalore is a blot on the cosmopolitan character of the city. I wonder whether we, as a nation, are progressing towards attaining universal brotherhood or fragmenting on the basis of language and religion. What makes these recent threats more appalling is the fact that they go against the fundamental right of equality granted to the citizens by the Constitution.

Failure to stem parochial hatred will lead to it spreading to neighbouring States. Radical elements who promote anarchy by spreading hatred should be marginalised. It is unfortunate that the rumour-mongers have a parochial outlook, especially towards one of the most vibrant cosmopolitan cities of India. The sentiment, “regionalism-above-nationalism,” which is prevalent across the country in varying proportions is lamentable and should be addressed effectively. Placing the interest of one’s region above that of the nation is a threat to unity, and those doing so should be taken to task. These rumours spread by vested interest groups reflect the desperation of some political groups that disrupt normal life to gain political mileage. We should not get carried away by their actions. Bangalore or any other city does not lend itself to the concept of locals and outsiders.

The Centre and the State government should act immediately against the divisive forces who have been fomenting trouble with the sole objective of gaining a political identity for themselves. It is only be a matter of time before this brand of regional parochialism spreads its ugly and vicious tentacles to other States. It is high time the government realised the gravity of this situation and took stringent and rigorous action to advance the cause of the North East people it seeks to represent. We can only hope that the parochial tendency does not spread to other States enabling the North East people to come back.

My Letter to The Hindu dated 20-08-2012  

It was pathetic to see media images of students running about to escape the perceived threat. Hooliganism will rob the cosmopolitan character of Bangalore or any other city. The government should deal with it with an iron fist and send the signal that it will ensure the wellbeing of the north-easterners in every possible way.