Rich, Educated, yet Primitive !

The census 2011 results had many highs. 2001-11 was the decade that saw the lowest population growth, improved sex-ratio to 940, increased literacy levels to 74% etc. But there was one dampener. It did ruffle a few feathers in me but I somehow ignored it. Barely a few days had passed and I was rattled by a report published in a financial daily which highlighted some damning statistics. I chose to ignore it again - thinking someone was playing around with numbers. But then, a few days back,  I read another story. It would have been too naive to ignore this time again. It was perhaps for the third time now in less than 2 months that I had come across reports/statistics which, if looked at individually, looked like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, but when looked at collectively, presented an all together different view. Only difference being that instead of getting a beautiful picture in the end, I rather got an ugly one.

The First Piece: Census 01-11 reported that the child (0-6 years) sex-ratio in 2011 is 914 - the lowest since independence and has declined from 927 in 2001. I checked the census figures and found that prominent laggards were - Punjab - 846, Chandigarh - 867, Haryana - 830, NCR - 866, Gujarat - 866, Maharashta - 883. Some of the better looking numbers from other major states are from AP & Karnataka - 943 each, Tamil Nadu - 946. However these numbers may also not present a healthy trend given the fact that numbers in AP and Karnataka have actually declined from 961 and 946 in 2001 respectively. In Tamil Nadu, the number pales in comparison to the adult sex-ratio of 1000.


The Second Piece: A news item appeared in 'Mint' (from where the title of the blog has also been derived) which was based on a study published in "The Lancet",  world's leading general medical journal. It pointed out the inconsistencies in sex-ratio of the second-born child. While the number was a healthy 980 where the first-born is a boy, it was a dismal 840 when the first-born is a girl.  When reported by Household wealth index, the difference is far more appalling. While the sex-ratio for the second-born where first-born is a girl was as high as 1080 for poorest 20% of the households, it dropped miraculously to 740 for richest 20% of the households.  


The Third Piece: The third article published in 'Mint' discussed the findings (based on Census '11 data) of one of the country's foremost demographers on the heinous practice of Sex-Selective Abortion(SSA). The top 5 states leading the pack in terms of SSA abortions as a % of female births were Haryana - 13.1%, Punjab  - 11.5%, Maharashtra - 7.6%, Rajasthan - 7% and Gujarat - 6.8%, when compared to a national average of 3.6%. Put simply,  out of 100 girls born in Punjab and Haryana, there are more than 10 which were not allowed to be born and so on for other states.


The three pieces are so complementary to each other - The selective abortion of the female child, more so in case when its a second girl child has led to the worst child sex-ratio numbers since independence. It's not hard to imagine the ugly picture that I was talking about - That of increasing obsession with the male child.  But that's just not it. 


Combine these pieces with the fact that states reporting the dismal numbers have a higher literacy rate than the national average (barring AP), have a higher per capita income than most of the country, are among the fastest growing states (barring Rajasthan) and you unveil one of the darkest secrets hidden in India's underbelly - the aversion for the girl child is more prominent where it was least expected - among India's  Urban, Rich and the Educated. Or as concluded by researchers at The Lancet  - Higher education and income levels among families correspond paradoxically to greater female infant deaths, attributable, only to pre-natal diagnostic technologies.

And this disclosure couldn't have come at a more 'opportune' time - just coinciding with 2 decades of economic reforms. The last decade has truly been a spectacular one in terms of economic growth, ushering in a new era of urbanization, consumerism (thanks to swollen per capita) and knowledge economy (thanks to increased literacy levels). But the bitter truth is that although we are urbanized, we are not suave; although we are rich - we are not benevolent; although we are educated, we are not enlightened. 

Rich.Educated.Primitive.

Such a shame!

That Girl by the Roadside...

The girl by the roadside !

Walking in the bylanes of Delhi's Kamla Nagar market, adjacent to Delhi University's North campus, right opposite Hans Raj college, I saw something that evoked in me profound feelings of ambivalence. 

Sitting on the footpath by the road side was a girl, about 10-12 years old, with a weighing machine beside her, earnestly taking down notes from her Hindi text book. There were three things about this girl which impressed me:  1) This girl was unruffled by the passing crowd. I observed her for about 5 minutes. During the peak evening hours, when you inadvertently bump into one another, this girl was taking down her notes with utmost sincerity. 2) She was not begging or pestering anyone to get their weight measured, unlike several other street kids of the same age, who follow you with their knick knacks and whom you find hard to get rid off. Here was a girl teeming with a sense of self-respect, which could perhaps be owed to her education. 3) Lastly, there was no sign of discomfort as she was discharging her twin duties - that of studying and doing justice to the faith reposed by her parents and secondly that of supporting her family. It was as if adversity had brought out the best in her.

So amused I was at seeing this girl that I went to her,  got my weight measured, gave her about 5 times what she asked for, requested for a click and asked her to study and do well. While the right hemisphere of my brain was rejoicing in a deep sense of satisfaction that I had done my bit, the left hemisphere had started posing some uneasy questions. I tried not to think about them and looked at the girl again, only to be greeted by an innocent smile.

But somehow I felt there were a lot of feelings behind that smile that she wanted to convey; feelings which I could not find hard to imagine:-

" Hi Passerby ! You were generous. But do you really think it was your money that I was looking for? A simple glance at your past and you would realize that all this while it has always been about money. You took pride in donating generously to organisations that claim to educate a child on your behalf, without even caring to bother whether a soul actually benefitted ! You won't even remember that  whenever given a chance to donate either 'money' or 'efforts', you always preferred the former. It was always so difficult for you to get out of your slumber. You won't even remember the gleam of hope in my eyes when you did visit our slum once, never to return again. But sure, what you do remember is that false sense of satisfaction that you derived out of your perceived acts of charity all this while, don't u?"

"Today, I'm not accusing you of being lazy or being irresponsible. 

Today, I'm accusing you of being indifferent (which you will so vehemently deny) !"

"All this while you never realized that monetary support was perhaps the least I needed from you as an individual - provisions and initiatives of far more humongous proportions are being taken at sovereign and corporate levels (RTE has an estimated outlay of 1.71 lakh crore in next 5 years and Premji uncle and Shiv Nadar uncle have generously donated billions towards education). You berate India on its illiteracy in your coterie, you give all big talks about CSR and you sympathize. You never realized that I never wanted your sympathy. Your acts of sympathy, like those of today, only make me feel weak and marginalized. You never realized that what I did actually want was your Time so that the shortage of nearly five lakh teachers at primary level and about three lakh untrained teachers at elementary school level could be overcome for me and my friends. What I did actually want was your awareness - so that you can question how effectively RTE and RTI (to check actual spends on education) are being implemented and used. What I did actually want was just 'YOU'."

"But all this talk - is it going to make any difference to you? You will be as indifferent tomorrow as you were yesterday. You'll probably think about me for may be a little over 5 minutes, may be share your feelings on a blog or facebook and perhaps forget all about it, just as it happens every time."

"Is it going to change this time or am I asking too much?"

I still don't have an answer. Do you have one?