Sir,
This refers to the editorial ‘Nothing to be proud of’ (DE,August 1,2014).It is shocking to read that India is home to one third of extreme poor global population and that it has also recorded the highest number of under-five deaths in the world, according to the latest UN Millennium Development Goals Report.The report also highlights that 60 percent of the people who defecate in open reside in India and that 17 percent global maternal deaths occur in India.All these facts should serve as eye opener for our leaders, policy makers, planners, intelligentia and people in general as to why our policies and programmes aimed at poverty alleviation and improvement of maternal and child care in India have achieved so little success despite huge investment of money.
It is also an opportunity to take concrete and pragmatic steps to improve prenatal,natal and post natal care of children in hospitals and homes as also to improve maternal care.The report also calls for taking measures for improving sanitation in our country, especially in rural areas and to take the construction of toilets on priority basis to end the practice of open defecation.It is ironical that more than 50 percent Indians have mobile phones but not toilets. In recent past,there has been a steep rise in cases of girls and women being raped while going to defecate in the open in the early morning or late night when only they have a small measure of privacy.
Moreover,the schemes such as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyaan and Total Sanitation Programme need to be implemented more vigorously and effectively to cover more areas.At the same time,sincere efforts need to be made to put a check on the ever swelling population in India by launching vigorous compaign to create awareness in the masses about the benefits of small family as high population growth negates all that we achieve through various welfare schemes and programmes.
Yours etc….
Ashok Sharma,
Flat No 4, Housing Colony,
Udhampur
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