GOVERNANCE - public policy

GOVERNANCE

public policy

 

Forever and ever

Food, drinking water, education, healthcare and sanitation are issues that governments and officials say cannot be solved in haste, but this has not prevented them from glossing over other challenges, answers to which are within reach

 

by BN Uniyal

           

Shame, said the Prime Minister, that 42 per cent of Indian children are malnourished! Shame, said the Supreme Court, that thousands of children, particularly girls, are dropping out of schools because there are no toilets for them! Shame, said the Rural Development Minister, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, that absence of sanitation is the biggest blot on India!

–The Hindu, January 22, 2012

 

T

here is too much around and about us for every Indian to be ashamed of. The Hindu could have very well have added a shame for 70 per cent adulterated milk sold and yet another shame for the 41 per cent or so of the population that goes to sleep on an empty stomach every night, or for the low quality of education in our schools, and so on and so forth. We have a national shame for every day of the week.

Food, drinking water, education, healthcare and sanitation were considered “burning issues” when I started my career 50 years ago. Today, as my career as a journalist is coming......  Read More