India –the country which faces many challenges
India is one of the largest and the second most populous country in the world. Since ancient times the Indian subcontinent was an important region where different religions, cultures and empires were crossing and mixing. This diversity was always a big value and advantage, as well as dangerous threat for India. During hundreds of years India have exploited those advantages; however the country has also become a victim of the threats caused by multicultural factors.
Nowadays, despite the fact that India is aspiring to become a regional leader, it is still a country facing various difficult challenges. The main problems in India are poverty, malnutrition, environmental issues, corruption, and respecting of the human rights. Many of those problems are already being solved, however there is still a lot of hard work waiting for young Indian democracy.
Poverty and malnutrition
Poverty in India is extremely widespread. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) report in 2010, almost 30% of Indians lived below the country’s national poverty line. What is more, in accordance to World Bank 32,7% of the Indian citizens fall below the international poverty line (1.25 USD per day), while almost 69% live on less than 2 USD per day.Poverty among the Indian society is easy to notice. Streets of Indian towns are full of neglected buildings and ragged beggars. Unfortunately, many of them are young children and orphans.
Poverty directly connects to the malnutrition issue, especially among children. During past centuries the Indian subcontinent has witnessed many deadly famines. Since green revolution in the late 60s India has achieved food selfsufficiency and dismissed the specter of hunger. However, despite the green revolution’s success, contemporary India ranks 15th place among leading countries with its hunger situation in the Global Hunger Index (GHI). What is more, India is one of the highest ranking states in the world for the number of children suffering from malnutrition.
Enviromental and corruption issues
Another important challenge facing India is environment protection. During the last decades India has been facing many environmental problems. One of the most serious issues is garbage, especially the plastic one. Plastic bags, papers, food leftovers, empty containers and packages,are literally flooding Indian streets. What is more, as a result of green revolution and economic development many Indian rivers and lands are polluted by chemicals and pesticides. Only sustainable development policy can change this dramatic situation.
Another harmful internal problem is the lack of trust in the government and corruption. In Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2012 India ranked 94th place. The other report from 2008 says that more than 40% of citizens had experienced bribing to get the job in public offices. Basing on my personal experience, as a result of overgrown bureaucracy, lack of transparent laws and general social agreement for corruption, it is difficult to get something done in an Indian office without bribes Corruption in India influences its development, economic growth, social confidence and health care. There are many anticorruption programmes in India, however it seems that they do not work as they should.
Human rights in India
Human rights are a backbone of each democratic country. In the state of so many and different religions and cultures preserving and protecting the human rights is a great challenge. The last decade seems to be a turning point in this topic. It is easy to notice the wind of changes in androcentric and attached to traditions society.
There are many organizations fighting for woman rights and equal treatment. A few years ago, Western media were loudly speaking about the scourge of violence towards women sweeping across India. The boiling point was a brutal rape in Delhi. Indignant reaction of Indian society surprised local and central authorities, forcing them to act and stop this practice. It resulted in severe convictions for the rapists.
The transformation in the perception of human rights is also reflected in the approach to the topic of homosexuality in India. Until recently, homosexuality was punished with imprisonments from 10 years to life sentence. All has changed in 2009 when such a provision was removed from the Indian Criminal Code. However, there is still a lot to do in this topic to improve the situation of Indian gays and lesbians.
Speaking of human rights in India, it cannot be forgotten to mention the caste system. The caste system is one of the most recognizable features of India. Throughout the centuries the discrimination and violence towards people of lower casts was common. Since 1950 the Indian Government implemented many laws and initiatives to improve the situation of the lowest cast people. A symbol of upcoming changes was the election of Dalit Kocheril Raman Narayanan for the President. Unfortunately there is still a lot to be changed. The United Nations report says that approximately 110,000 cases of violence against Dalits were committed in 2005.
Great
power equals great responsibility - this sentence perfectly suits India.
It is clear that such a big and diverse country has so many problems.
During passed decades the Indian Government tried to solve most of them. Some
ideas were good and successful but some failed.
It must be admitted that the
Republic of India is quite a young country which still makes a lot of mistakes, but the most
important thing is that it tries to take a lesson from them. There are
a lot of actual and forthcoming challenges waiting for the Indian
Government and society but the future seems to be bright.
References:
United Nations Development Programme's website: http://www.undp.org.in/whatwedo/poverty_reduction.
World Bank Report: http://povertydata.worldbank.org/poverty/country/IND.
Global Hunger Index Report: http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/ghi11.pdf.
World Bank Report on Malnutrition in India:
http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/SOUTHASIAEXT/0,,contentMDK:20916955~pagePK:146736~piPK:146830~theSitePK:223547,00.html.
Transparency International Corruption Perception Index 2012: http://cpi.transparency.org/cpi2012/results/.
Transparency International, India Corruption Study2008, http://www.transparencyindia.org/resource/survey_study/India%20Corruptino%20Study%202008.pdf.
United Nations 2005 Report: http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/hdr05_summary.pdf
Please make something with formatting because it's really hard to read...
ReplyDeleteI totally agree with my colleagues. Your article is unreadable now, so please do something with formatting. Especially, that the topic seems to be interesting.
DeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteSorry guys - something went wrong. No it should be ok :)
DeleteYou are right, this topic is really interesting.
Now it is much better! Your article is very interesting and the topic is showed in a horizontal manner. As far as I know Indie will have the biggest population in ~2025 so imao they definitely should be more responsible especially with environmental issues.
DeleteCurrently I have contact with people from India in my work. Few of our employees are on 6 months training so I have an opportunity to hear some stories. For example they told me that it is a big challenge to find wife because in India is born much less girls than boys.
That's right. Do something with formatting. It's unreadable in such a form
ReplyDeleteI saw the previous version of this article and I hoped that you'll change it, so I'm glad that I waited with commenting this one, because it looks much, much better.
ReplyDeletePoor formatting was a one problem, but second one I have with this presentation is that it's a little bit dry. It's a very good article for a school essay and as a teacher I would grade it with an A or B or 5, but as for presentation prepared for others – it lacks something, something more informal or human.
And as for the topic itself – I think many third-world countries face the same issues as India does. Let's hope they'll manage to solve their problems and world would become a better place. I think I will restrain myself and I won't add any South Park or Family Guy references, simply out of respect for those people suffering in India.
All in all, thanks for this very informative article.
Poverty in India is broadly talked topic, therefore I wanted to approach it in the most objective way as possible. Obviously, the problem is moving and touching, but I my intention was to present only bare facts in order to leave the audience possibility to make their own statement on this matter.
DeleteIndia is a rather poor country and I trully believe that something will change in near future. Couple of weeks ago I saw a documentary about children in India. Most families are so poor that the education is hardly available for their kids. Without the education childern won't get decent work so to get better future they work in the production of slippers or clothes etc. for about 6 hours a day and then go to school. The money they earn are also used to support their families to buy food, pay the bills etc.
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for them.
When it comes to the clothing industry I work in this area, so I have my own statement on this matter. I am strongly convinced that the situation of children in India is much better that it was few years ago. Norms are tightened, quality of work is controlled by the competent institutions. I am pretty sure that they treat it more as an opportunity to break out of poverty than as punishment. We cannot forget that their point of view is different than Europeans'.
DeleteI found your topic as an interesting subject to discuss.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago I've read a book called "The Linnet Bird".
A story was about a woman and her straitened past, who moved to India, to Calcutta.
I remember a great description of city - a poverty and welth near to each other.
A people on the streets, their behaviour after seeing an european newcomers.
We can almost feel a voilence and anger, desribed by Linda Holeman mixed with country variety, beautiful nature.
Some parts of this book could be a good supplement of your presentation.
Reades could imagine another world and reality Indie so well by this.
I read that book as well and I have a similar expression about that story. Even though I read it many years ago, I remember the plot clearly and after reading one of my biggest desires was to explore country and experience its beauty and diversity.
DeleteVery interesting but sad article.
ReplyDeleteIndia is a country full of contrasts.
Last year a man told me that in India most things are 0 or 1. true or false, and what he saw in India.
He was waiting on a train station.
And a little boy was running through the train station and he want to sell a bottle of water. He have to be the best salesman to sell this bottle?
Why?
Because if won't sell it, he would not eat anything.
Threating woman in India is also a huge problem.
Great article, I think that every country which are this large have contrast like those that you mentioned. And it's not about times or a special thing of the world region. Last month I have watched the documental movie about rapes in India, there was an interview with a lawyer who represents the perpetrators of the attack on the girl who died as a result of multiple rape. He was a wealthy, educated man and at the same time he believed that she was asking herself for trouble, walking outside in the evening.. I think that we can successfully find people like him in Poland.
ReplyDelete@Katarzyna: Have you ever been there?
ReplyDeleteEvery friend of mine who traveled to this country said to me that after couple days of staying they had been tired of this misery. It was just too much of that. It's very controversial country. I'm not sure whether I would like to go there.
Thank you for the presentation. India just rubs me the wrong way..
ReplyDeleteI've worked with several people of Indian origin and based on what I've observed in everyday interactions with them and stuff you read about their country I would never consider visiting that country, let alone moving there. I just don't want them to have my money:)
My main gripe is the treatment of women. On two separate occasions I've seen Indian gentlemen living in the UK going home for a month or two to meet a lineup of women pre-approved for them by their families. They pick one, get married and bring her back to Europe. I understand it's their culture and no one is forced into anything but it still feels very wrong to me.
After reading your article and comments below I have no idea to add something new about India. I haven’t been there but I think the culture and flavor of this country is quite interesting. I remember some time ago on English course @ PJA we watched great TV series named Outsourced. This series presents a difference between US and Indian workplace in really funny and eye catching way. With clearly conscience I recommend Outsourced - here you have a trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wR3LhFlgGo
ReplyDeleteLast year I saw a movie called 'Powerless' about an Indian village where people have big problem with electricity. In India about 30 percent of the population does not have access to electricity at all, and the rest have to deal with repeated outages. Although this country is fast growing economy as you showed in this presentation it still has a problem with respecting human rights.
ReplyDeleteIndia for me is one of the biggest disasters of our days. This country is teared apart by internal diffrences.
ReplyDeleteIt is very very very interesting country, the culture there is just fascinating BUT caste system, human rights (or the thing about breaking every human right) is a disaster.
I think that the best picture that is showing problems that are represented by India is the picture of Taj Mahal from both sides...one the one side beautiful palace, on the other junk yard
Poverty and hunger are horribly sad topics, especially considering how much food is being wasted on our tables.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the article, it is important to raise awareness in such topics.
Even though India got it's problems and downfalls, I would like to know some Hindus and get to know their culture, cuisine and habits better. Their's place to live is interesting and nice as well, no matter what kind of disasters strike this region :)
ReplyDeleteWow great topic because I spent 2 weeks in India during march this year and I've felt in love with that country. I have visited Hyderabad which is located in the southern part of this country. This city is maintained by rich businessmen who buys a big parts of the city and build a high towers. In hyderabad many corporations have located their centers of development, for example Microsoft, Oracle, IBM, Accenture etc... This is the biggest IT city in the whole India! A guy who drives a shuttle in India earns 200 dollars per month. It is very common that in India people are looking for a sponsor. The architecture is a mixture of a modern buildings and tents build on the side of the street. But still Indian people are very religious and this is why they choose a life of a poor people. When I was in India I was very ashamed of myself, in one minute I reminded myself that we europeans have lost our culture and religion and we chase the money-god when in India they really believe and follow their Gods. Nobody laughs when someone is talking about religion. Nobody things that culture and religion is a lame thing...
ReplyDeleteNice article, thank you for sharing. For me india are some far far away country with many problems. I've never looked into this country history or the current situation. When i used to work as freelancer i noticed there is really alot of people from India trying to make money on this. They can compete mostly on low prices, not the quality. And their english is just awful. It is really hard to understand them.
ReplyDeleteIndia is an amazing country, but I won't let my wife go alone there. They doesn't care about human rights at all. They law is old and tourists can feel unsecure. Of course nit in every part of India. North is far better than south in my opinion. They need time to follow western rules. They have a lot of billionairs that use poor people to make them rich. Nothing will change without proper twist in their thinking. Richer people and goverement should mire responsible. India as a country is beautiful, a lot of colors and different food you can enjoy. Funny music and even funnier cinema. Still, I think they are really far from western countries.
ReplyDeleteNice informative article :) I would very much like to visit India someday to take a look at how the people live and see all the monumental buildings and cities but what strikes me the most is that you have to double the ticket price just to get injections against all the insect or water pollution diseases you could contact in this country...
ReplyDeleteIt is very sad. India - intresting country where level of poverty is very high. Did you know that 42% of the world's poor live in India?? Interesting
ReplyDeleteThere are some curios about India. The Ganges river - oh my god. You can find there tons of rubish. But this is nothing. The Ganges river is the holy one. Do you know that Hindus burial dead bodies on the shores of rivers? Have a look http://spynet.ru/blog/Shocking/31293.html
. They don't mind bodies and wash theirselves in this water :D.
Cows are holy too.
Border between India and Pakistan is so brightly lit it can be seen from space.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2033886/India-Pakistan-border-visible-space.html#ixzz3b9zH1WzQ
India is the country which never stop suprise me. On the one hand you can notice very rich people who live in big villas and drive expensive car but on the other hand you see big poverty. I reckon that India are in progress process. A lot of international companies opnes their departnents in India. It is the big chance for people who lives ther to have prestige job where human rights are obeyed. In my opinion situation in India will change for maximum 10 years.
ReplyDelete