National problems and issues

M. S. Sridhar

A presentation for initiating discussion among students

in a one-day seminar at Mahatma Vidyalaya School,
Muthanallur, Anekal taluk, Bangalore Rural District
 Glorious past
 Great achievements in religion, culture
and art
 Outstanding literature
 Impressive diverse geography

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 Glory
 5,000 year old civilization
 325 languages spoken – 1,652 dialects
 18 official languages
 29 states, 5 union territories
 3.28 million sq. kilometers - Area
 7,516 kilometers - Coastline
 1.3 Billion population
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 Glory contd.
 Parliamentary form of Government
 Secular democratic constitution
 Worlds largest democracy since 55 years
 4th largest economy
 Fastest growing IT super power
 Indian Railways ,the biggest employer in
the world.

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 Glory
 5600 dailies, 15000 weeklies and 20000
periodicals in 21 languages with a combined
circulation of 142 million.
 GDP $576 Billion. (GDP rate 8%)
 World-class recognition in IT, bio-technology
and space.
 Largest English speaking nation in the world.
 3rd largest standing army force, over
1.5Million strong.
 2nd largest pool of scientists and engineers in
the World.
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 Societal values
 Positive
Family values
‘Duty-first’ value system of Indian culture
 Negative

Divided religious and communal

differences
Position of women
Caste ideology & untouchability
Evils of poverty, ignorance and illiteracy
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 Individuals
 Declining ‘fearlessness’ in the fight
against social and political injustice
 Documented and widespread corruption
 Problems of great religious, social,
financial and political diversities
 Poverty leading to backwater crime,
prostitution, corruption, beggary;
driving to cities

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 Problems of youth
 Both constructed by youth & faced by youth
 Adapt to new culture or support conventionality
 Personal problems like introvert nature (society
is either too harsh or too lenient with teenagers)
 Struggle for ‘freedom of choice’ (concerning
views, clothes, education, occupation, etc.)
 Illiterate parents, remote village areas & poor
economic conditions
 Religious rigidity & sex discrimination
 Unemployment
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 Poverty
 All simple and basic life styles are not necessarily
inferior, but it becomes a dynamic evil when
 it generates a suffering
 big injustices prevail and grow
 Human soul is exploited and abused
 Population explosion
 World’s richest in mid 16th century, but now home for
30% of world’s poor (half the population live under existence
minimum or 53 % live under a $ per day poverty line)
 Gap between rich and poor is rising at an alarming rate
(richest 1/5 th have income 74 times that of poorest 1/5
th)
 Lack of rural infrastructure ossify poverty and
underdevelopment
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 Poverty …contd
 “The most dramatic fall in population and rise in living
standards can only be achieved if Australia, Canada
and the US receive large numbers of India’s poor on
the same lines as they once offset the poverty and
population explosion of Europe at the turn of the last
[19th] century”
 “Liberalisation and globalisation without solving
problem of poverty lead to Brazilian or Philippine type
of development with tragic disparity in opportunity
and income, poor health and degradation of the
environment”

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 Women
 Notorious for gender disparity from foetal
stage to old age
 Largest share of world’s illiterate women
 Literacy of tribal women is only 18.19%
 20% of rural households headed by women
due to widowhood, desertion or male
migration

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 Children
 44 m school children toil on forms, factories
& streets ( 15 m as slaves; debt slavery still
exists)
“The root cause is not poverty, but the
caste prejudice and value systems of those
who create and implement policy”
 Unable to achieve compulsory eight-years of
schooling for every rural child
 Despite world’s largest cattle wealth and
largest producer of milk, protein energy
malnutrition and vitamin deficiencies prevail
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 Food & Agriculture
 2/3 rd work in agriculture, but account for
only 25% of GDP
 Despite monsoon dependence and famines for
4 decades, production increased faster than
population growth
 Self-sufficient agriculture, but lousy PDS
 Second largest producer of rice, wheat, fruits
and vegetables
 Strong support to small-scale agriculture in
1980s helped reducing poverty to some extent
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 Health
 Lowest human development indicator in the
world
 70% lack access to PHC; Elders, young
women and children are worst affected
 Expenditure is 1/3 rd the minimum
prescribed by WHO
 Half the male population over the age of 15
are smokers; Tobacco will, in due course,
become the number one killer in India as well
 HIV/ AIDS wide spreading with 7 in 1000
affected (3.7 m)
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 Housing
 40 m backlog of housing units require Rs.
1230 b
Vs.
 Banks unable to recover (write-off) Rs.
550 b bad debts of big business houses

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 Education
 Lower castes and tribal communities
make the bulk of the poorer masses ( ½ b
dalits and tribal)
 40 m unemployed
 Third largest S&T manpower
 Female literacy rate of Kerala is higher
than every province of China. The only
Kerala model of development is in Cuba

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 Urbanisation
 Urban population has grown from 50 m (16% of
population) to 459 m (34%) since independence
 Inadequate infrastructure – water, electricity,
roads (except communication)
 World’s largest number of two-wheelers and
other vehicles on poor roads cause pollution and
choking
 Cherrapunji, world’s heaviest precipitation suffers
from water scarcity
 Best part of the natural resources have already
been consumed and genetic diversity destroyed
( to feel the affluence of OECD countries)
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M S Sridhar 17
 Military
 World’s largest arms importer for many
years
 Bofors costed Rs. 14.3 b and Kargil Rs.
19.8 b
 India and Pakistan together spend US $ 20
b annually on arms
 Hypocritical cry of big countries ( except
Denmark and Japan) on Nukes

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 Industry
 One of the ten most industrialised countries
 Lack of competition (till recent years) and
subsidies of various kinds
 Services account for 50% of GDP (2001-02)
 Enormous investments in nuclear energy
have not resulted in cheap and unlimited
supply of power
 Greatness is IT companies are world beaters

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 Thank You

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