Written by Amitabh Ranjan
Every morning we see Indians dumping garbage in the fields.Ironic remarks by villagers across the border in Bangladesh
In contrast, India's two smaller neighbors have come a long way in this regard. By the time the SBA was established, open defecation had become a forgotten memory in Bangladesh.Nepal
India is in the midst of a technological and financial revolution, with more Indians embracing digital transactions, online communication and e-commerce, and reports say the country is poised to take third place in global rankings may be seen in mainstream media. as a percentage of GDP, companies are looking to grow the middle class, and we are gloating about the 250 billion people who are emerging from multidimensional poverty (based on a fine-tuned index). Nevertheless, the vast hinterland presents a difficult situation.it is one of the basic deprivations of life
Swati Narayan does just that in her book, UnEqual: Why India Lags Behind It Neighbors, bringing to life grassroots stories that would otherwise never see the light of day. She unearths what's hidden in growth data for readers.
Narayan, an activist and teacher at OP Jindal Global University, is faced with a puzzle. Why is it that while India's reasonably well-endowed neighbors are making headway on human development indicators, our country, despite having quite a few billionaires to boast about and impressive growth statistics, remains behind? Or so? She sets out on a journey to find the answer. She divides her research into two geographical comparisons of adjacent regions over a specific time period: India and what she calls its “eastern neighbors” consisting of Bangladesh and Nepal, and the state of Tamil Nadu. We look at the differences between the 'Supermodels of the South', which consists of , Kerala and Sri Lanka. The first part of her research focuses on differences in similar situations, while the second part focuses on similarities in similar cases.
We explore four thematic areas: Access to Education (Elementary Level Reading); Health service provision (under-5 mortality rate). Malnutrition (stunting) in children. The authors interviewed 1,600 women in Bengali, Nepali, and Hindi from 80 villages in four districts: Panchagarh in Bangladesh, Sindhuri in Nepal, and Kishanganj and Muzaffarpur in Bihar. What emerges is an amalgamation of grassroots research woven into a fascinating narrative. There are locales, characters, contrasts, and conflicts. They are real and sometimes heart-rending. They tug at your conscience.
This is not to say that our neighbors to the east and supermodels to the south are development paradises, but there is clear statistical evidence that they are making progress. So she suggests a diagnosis.
Neither Bangladesh nor Nepal spends significant amounts of public social spending on welfare programs or development that promotes economic growth. Instead, by raising social awareness, reducing gender and caste inequalities, and providing low-cost and affordable solutions, we have been able to achieve rapid progress on many social development indicators.
While eliminating caste inequality, the South has ensured that the have-nots enjoy the real sources of high status: political power, education, and shared economic opportunity. Meanwhile, the northern caste movement relies on imitation and Sanskritization, where multiple layers of income, caste, gender, and religious inequalities remain mutually reinforcing.
So if the goal of not defecating in the open remains a chimera, or if stunted children in a village in Bihar contrast sharply with children in a village across the border, or if children on this side of the border are If levels of learning remain woefully inadequate, the reason is that societies remain fragmented, making it nearly impossible to broadly share development goals and social responsibility.
Narayan begins his second chapter, “Tramps of India,” with a passage from “The Ruined Village,” one of the most famous poems by Irish poet Oliver Goldsmith.
“The land is favored by the sick, the sick are used as prey, where wealth accumulates and man declines.”
This heroic couplet is enough to capture the Indian zeitgeist of towering skyscrapers and billionaires amid poverty-stricken countryside. The book is a commendable work of narrative journalism and is recommended to policy makers to get India's development march back on track, which at present appears to be failing.
The author is a former journalist and teaches at Patna Women's College.
Book: Inequality: Why India lags behind its neighbors
author: Swati Narayan
368 pages, 799 rupees