Indian State promises the moon, but cannot deliver even basic services.

I have always wondered about the priorities of the Indian State. The Indian State is notorious for its failure to ensure that even the most basic needs of its citizens are met. The government healthcare and education infrastructure in even the largest cities is apalling. Virtually no one who can afford treatment at a private hospital would ever visit a government run hospital. ( The only time when i visited AIIMS in Delhi was when i was severely mentally ill and was deluded that i was pennyless ) The rural population has virtually no access to proper healthcare or education services, so the poor folks are forced to board a train to Delhi and seek treatment at the already overcrowded AIIMS. With due respect for India's premier state medical institution, my experience with AIIMS have been pretty bad- the psychiatrist i was sent to, did not seem to be familiar with even the most routine treatments. **

Whats more, even the private healthcare infrastructure doesnt seem to be adequate, atleast for mental health. The GOI website prouldy proclaims that India has the lowest ratio of mental health professional to population, at about 1 in a million. What it means at the ground level , is that even if you live in a posh upmarket colony of a state capital, you are not likely to find a psychiatrist in your vicinity. Thats because the Indian government doesn't consider healthcare to be a priority; as an example , consider the fact that the Indian State funds and patronises homeopathy ; which is a comprehensively disproven theory-- Scientists have conclusively established that homeopathic remedies are no more effective than placebos, , its not plausible that such remedies are effective-- But the huge amount of accumulated evidence against homeopathy is not sufficient for the Indian Government to withdraw its support to homeopathy; it has instead sought to promote homeopathy by providing false information to the public. ( Advertisements proclaiming the " benefits " of homeopathy have been erected all along Delhi Metro ) Shameful !

Yet the same Indian government which doesn't have funds for hospitals and schools, cannot ensure even the most basic services to its citizens , finds it convenient and necessary to launch a mission to the Moon. Although its true that providing inspiration and motivation to the younger generation , especially science students,is necessary, wouldn't the money be better spent if it was used for improving government hospitals , schools and colleges--or for that matter, improving public transport in congested Indian cities by constructing more Metro rails throughout the country? Its no secret that urban infrastructure is inadequate for the largely growing population , yet the government considers it necessary to launch a mission to the moon rather than improving basic services. Recently , a person from Delhi remarked that although Indian scientists have discovered water on the Moon, water supply to homes still remains erratic,insufficient and contaminated.

The urban middle class can afford Water Purifiers to protect themselves from water-borne diseases, but the poor have to suffer from periodic episodes of diarrhea,and worse hepatitis* and cholera. The Indian State can fund a program to find water on the Moon, but apparently its unable to find money to provide clean drinking water to its denizens. And where do the hepatitis-infested patients go ? To government hospitals, where services are , well, less said, the better...

.. This for a country, whose Constitution declares it to be a " Welfare State " . If Public Welfare was Space Missions to the Moon, nuclear submarines, large statues and memorials, Indians would have been the most prosperous of people.



**- the AIIMS doc prescribed an anti-epilepsy drug , along with an antidepressant. I fail to understand why would an anti-epilepsy drug be needed for treating a fairly routine case of major depression, when there was no reason to believe that the patient would not respond to standard antidepressant medication. moral of the story-- use google to verify any prescription by a goverment doctor.

* -what is commonly referred to " jaundice " in india , is termed " acute hepatitis " in medicine.

I just came to know that Australia ( which has #2 ranking in the Human Development Index ) , still doesn't have a Space Agency.

How religion creates the most irrational of prejudices and customs, yet escapes criticism & rational scrutiny .

It's amazing how religion creates and promotes the most irrational of prejudices and yet considers itself to be immune from any rational scrutiny or criticism. And followers of religion ( brainwashed individuals ) give all sorts of absurd reasoning to justify their sticking tenaciously to their prejudices , in the face of growing evidence that the prejudice is not only irrational and unwarranted, but also harmful.

The classical example of such a irrational prejudice would be vegetarianism among many hindus. Despite the common knowledge that plant foods lack the essential nutrient Vitamin B12, India's scientific and medical community has largely overlooked and ignored the implications and consequences of widespread vegetarianism . Anyone having some knowledge of nutritional science would instantly realise the grave danger in such a situation-- what happens if an individual is lactose intolerant ( meaning s/he cannot digest lactose, the sugar in milk, and hence cannot drink milk )--such a person would depend upon yogurt* as the sole source of an essential nutrient in their diet . And if due to any reason , if this sole source of B12-yogurt is absent for long periods of time-- in my case, the consequences manifested in decline in memory and cognitive abilities, leading to poor academic performance and humiliation, ultimately culminating in full-blown mental illness.

I am sure, this situation is not rare in India-- India's public health authorities and the medical community has completely overlooked the issue and not even bothered to create awareness in the public about the dangers of B12 deficiency ( and the absolute need for including yogurt in diet ) . Indeed , despite the alarming figure that 81 % of urban middle class residents of Pune are atleast slightly deficient , India's scientific and medical establishment continues to overlook the issue. **

But what is even more amazing is the fact that some of the most voracious supporters of hindu-vegetarianism would leave no stone unturned in criticising the practice of muslim women compelled to wear veils ( " burqa " ) . What an amazing hypocrisy, upholding one's own irrational prejudice but criticising another's irrational social custom.





Vegetarianism among hindus and the practice of wearing veils among muslim women are both symptoms of a disease called religion.

**- the fact that India's scientific and medical community has largely ignored this alarming situation can be explained invoking the concept of SELECTIVE EXPOSURE-human beings have the tendency to ignore or discredit information which is highly inconsistent with our strongly-held attitudes and prejudices.

*- yogurt refers to what is known as " curd " in india.

..The inconvenience caused is deeply regretted..

Since the initiation of economic reforms since the early 1990s, life for the middle class Indian has changed beyond recognition. From unreliable home telephones which would often go " dead ", today's customer is spoilt for choice with umpteen number of mobile phone connections available. The ancient-looking Fiat Padminis and the Ambassador Cars have been replaced by sleek modern Hyundais and Suzukis. The monopoly of Doordarshan has given way to a proliferation of private 24/7 news and entertainment channels. And the Internet has brought the world at the fingertips of the middle class indian. For many Urban Indians, the neighbourhood kirana shop has been superseded by glitzy malls and supermarkets. Mc. Donalds and Subway, words once restricted to the vocabulary of NRIs , are rapidly becoming the favorite food joints of the increasingly affluent middle class Indian.

But if there is one aspect of life, that has barely changed since those days, is intercity transportation. With regular Air travel still beyond the means of most of the population, the venerable Indian Railways continues to hold monopoly over this vital aspect of life. And barring some superficial changes in the ticketing and reservation ( computerised, online reservation, "Tatkal" ( immediate ) quota ), there have been apparently no major changes at ground level in the running of trains.

Yesterday night , I had the misfortune of travelling in "Duranto" (quick) Express, the first non-stop train between Lucknow and New Delhi. And as I had expected , the "non-stop" tag was on paper only--it seemed to halt at every passing station, even made some stoppages in the middle-of-nowhere locations . It has been the same old story for indian trains since i was a child in the early 1990s--- our train halts in the middle-of-nowhere, we are told " there is no signal " , after some time we see a train passing by on the nearby track (in the same direction as our train ), and after it has passed, finally our train wakes from its siesta, whistles, and starts moving slowly again. This scene would be familiar to most seasoned travellers of the Indian Railways--it has barely changed since my childhood, and god-only-knows how many generations of Indians have spent tiring and irritating time , waiting for the other train to pass by and their own train to resume moving.

Today, with the Indian Economy growing by leaps and bounds, and India being one of the "emerging economies" , we see rapid visible change in nearly all aspects of life ( atleast those related to technology, if not those related to society ). But somehow, this advancement seems to have bypassed the Railways almost entirely. The Indian railways continues to move at a sluggish pace, both its trains and its plans and strategy. The Railways are still largely run as a social service , rather than a revenue-generating, profit-seeking business. The IR is one of the last remaining remnants of socialism in the otherwise liberalised-Indian Economy. So severe is the dearth of new ideas, that even today, the outer walls of trains are not rented for commercial advertisements, an action that would be politically feasible and would generate enormous revenue for the old warhorse of Indian transportation.

In the summer of 1994, my family boarded a train from Lucknow to Howrah. It reached its destination some 6-7 hours late. And today morning, the latest wonder train of the IR, the "quick" Duranto Express proved only quick enough to reach NDLS 90 minutes late. ( 9.5 hours for a journey that was scheduled to last 8 hours )

..And as they say " Punctuality is a word which does not exist in the dictionary of the Indian Railways "

And if you are not familiar with the title of this page, you have probably never spent more than a few minutes at an indian Railway Station.

Is brainwashing by parents the cause of fundamentalism among hindus ?

among hindus of india, parents are the primary source of fundamentalist brainwashing. parents show affection and approval if kids follow hindu norms, while reprimand the child if he/she does anything that deviates even an inch from hindu norms. fundamentalist norms include not eating meat, not eating eggs on tuesday ( for some ,not eating eggs on any day ),not getting haircut on thursdays, not trimming nails on thursdays.
sounds crazy ? well many people in india stick to these norms and consider any deviation from them a moral transgression.
..these irrational norms are passed on from generation to generation.

Liberation from the bondage of marriage ?

I sometimes wonder whether i will ever get married. Reasons for this doubt are not tough to understand.

Firstly, the " essential qualification " i look for in a prospective spouse is that she should be financially independent and not a " typical indian housewife" . Based upon my experiences and observation, i know that most indian females don't really look forward to a career.. they pursue education ( even professional education ) solely as a means of finding a rich groom and then sitting comfortably at home at watching saas-bahu serials ,the rest of their lives. I often fear that my spouse will declare herself to be " career-minded , and not like those girls " before marriage, but soon after marriage, she will find a lame excuse to quit her work. ( I know that a rare variety of indian females are genuinely career-minded , but i know they settle for nothing less than a millionaire for a groom )

Secondly, as a psychology student i am well aware of the fact that atttraction and liking between two people is often dependent upon the degree of similarity and dissimilarity between the two. While I am a die-hard atheist, i am very well aware that most indian females are hindu fundamentalists ( vegetarian, don't eat eggs on tuesday, don't eat anything on specified days, don't get haircut on specified days , wearing costly rings on fingers to ward off evil and for " luck " ) -- I am not sure how an atheist and a hindu fundamentalist would be able to live together peacefully. Psychologists have not been able to find any evidence for the popular belief " Opposites Attract " and further, it is well known that " dis-similarity depresses liking much more than similarity enhances it " --hence in the case of sharp dissimilarity in values , an affectionate , loving relationship is not the most likely outcome.( I have often observed that my atheist friends are much more likely to make friends with like-minded people; experts have long known that " birds of a flock fly together " )

Whats more, most indians continue to have outdated views on mental illness, which i often find to be offensive. That even further dents my chances of finding a like-minded partner.

Surely , I am well aware of the importance of intimate relationships in ensuring a happy, satisfying life ( intimate relationships are known to be a important factor in " subjective well-being" ). But in this case , i am very doubtful i would be able to establish an intimate, close relationship with someone i cannot agree with , on some of the most important values in life . Whats more, i dont consider financial liability a good cost to pay for intimacy.

Think about it, Facebook offers me the oppurtunity of meeting and befriending like-minded people, and even establishing intimate relationships , without having to assume any financial responsibility.

Does that mean, I would end up being "permanently single " as many of my Facebook friends ? Well, only time will tell that .

How womens' participation in workforce is far more important than their particpation in legislature.

The past couple of days have seen heated debates and drama on the issue of womens' reservation bill. The proposed bill would reserve 33% of the electoral constituencies ( for national and state elections ) only for women, thereby reserving 33 % of the seats in central and state legislatures for women. Proponents of this bill claim that this change would usher in a new era of womens' empowerment and gender equality. I certainly wish them well in their great intention, but i doubt as to how exactly would such a change bring about womens' emancipation.

First of all, some statistics: India's rank in the Gender Gap Index is at the pit bottom, and we rank only above Islamic countries of Middle East. (refer to my previous posts for more info ) . The report also ranks India at the pit bottom for the parameter of Womens' participation in the workforce. Hardly surprising, as the vast majority of Indian adult women are " Homemakers " .

I have often wondered how can India progress economically and socially as long as womens' participation in the workforce remains at the present dismal levels. Census of India 2001 revealed that only 11 % of urban women are employed; this too, i suspect, includes the large number of poor women employed as unskilled labour in construction industry. Hence, it is clear that participation of educated middle-class women in the workforce is dismal . ( In contrast to developed countries like Taiwan , where workforce participation of women is almost 50 % )

I have argued in my previous articles that womens' lack of participation in the workforce is proving to be a great hindrance in the economic development of this country. And I also wonder how any real empowerment of women can be brought about without first ensuring financial freedom for women. Greater workforce participation would bring about greater gender equality , than participation in legislature.

The job of MPs and MLAs is to make laws; but i am not sure that how greater number of women among lawmakers would change the situation-- Indian laws are already biased in favour of women, claim many legal experts. Infact , many accuse Indian laws like the Domestic Violence Act to be unfair towards men, and say that it makes innocent men vulnerable to frivolous and false litigation. Many accuse the Indian Government of making laws that would victimise men, and would be misused by women for settling personal scores. Critics of such laws also say that the genuine oppressed women, whom this law claims to protect, are actually unaware of these laws, and rich, educated and already-empowered women misuse the law. I fear , that with a greater number of female lawmakers, more of such unfair laws would be enacted.

I wonder if this bill is just another technique of " votebank politics ".

Instead of increasing the number of females in legislatures by reserving seats for them, it would be better for the Government to urge more women to take up careers , by issuing advertisements in newspapers/ TV . Though the government is already giving many incentives to working women in the form of lower income tax slabs, I believe it is high time the government should start encouraging women directly, in the form of mass awareness campaigns , which create awareness about the benefits of womens' employment among the masses.

A typical Indian vegetarian platter. Hinduism , India's predominant religion forbids members from eating meat, and therefore most meals are " pure vegetarian " . Result : vitamin b12 deficiency, with its numerous consequences , including mental illness