India Shining. Really?

I'm getting rather tired of seeing 'India smiling' and 'India shining' reports in various sections of the print media. No doubt, while it is good that we are looking at the glass as half full, we should'nt go overboard. Check these out.

-The vidharbha region in Maharashtra is witnessing farmer suicides like crazy. They are dropping like flies. The numbers are unbelievable.
-After 60 years of independence, more than half of India's arable land depends on seasonal moonsoon for irrigation.
-65% of our people depend on agriculture.
-No country in the history of the world has become a developed nation without moving, en masse, its people from agriculture to industry. What is India's track record in this area?
-More than 60 percent of children drop out of school before class 6.
-For all the surveys done till date, nobody really knows what is the correct number of Indians who are BPL(below the poverty line).
-Women are still abused in our society - domestic violence.
-Child labour thrives.
-Literacy is a pathetic 50 per cent, if that. Women literacy is best left unsaid.
-Infrastructure even in 'modern' cities is a joke. One good monsoon in bangalore causes all communication lines to be snapped. One good monsoon in Mumbai and its airport -the lifeline of India's economy - is marooned. It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.
-The media in India which is supposed to be the 'watchdog of democracy' needs to bring these things to the attention of the people. But what does it do? It thinks Aishwarya rai's love life is more important. Shilpa Shetty's racism charge is front page news. What irony !


The first step we need to take is accept that we have a problem. We seem to have a problem doing that. BJP's India shining campaign was and is unadulterated crap.Yes, there are a few individuals in the corporate sector who are billionares. Reliance is doing very well. Tata is doing well. Yes, the software sector is booming. But how many people in India depend on software for a living? About 10 lakhs? And what is India's population? 1 billion plus. Do the math.


But having said that, it is definitely good news that at least corporate India is on a roll; which is more that what could be said of it till not very long back. Let us keep up the good work. But let us not put the real issues on the back burner.