India is home to the largest number of children in the world. Around 46 % of these children suffer from malnutrition. Over 6,000 children under the age of six die in our country everyday from hunger and malnutrition even though India claims to have the world's largest initiative for children under six but still ranks 94th out of 118 countries on the Global Hunger Index. More than 50 % of total population is employed in agriculture and allied activities and still its farmers can't afford a basic living and are forced to commit suicide. The line which separates beggars from casual poor is thinning in a country where one in every four goes to bed hungry every night and 78 % are homeless. Here a casual labour earns less than a beggar in a day.
When slapped with these abashing facts one starts to think in the direction of poverty reduction and devising mechanism to ensure fair returns to those producing goods and services at the lowest strata i.e the farmers and laborers.
Unfortunately, the policies of the Planning Commission are not directed towards any of these but largely speaking they are vote bank politics in disguise. The Sixth Pay Commission is one good example. Can we even afford to think on the lines of its recommendation when a huge number of our people are living in abject poverty not only because they are unemployed but because they aren't getting their fair share.
So, While the Prime Minister's announcement to set up the Sixth Pay Commission for Central government employees will bring cheer to well-paid employees, lakhs of citizens in India living below the poverty line without any hope of betterment in their living conditions will be disappointed and frustrated. They know that when the government liberally increases wages and perks to its already affluent employees, it inevitably results in a situation where the funds available for the betterment of the poor and downtrodden will be proportionately reduced. And so the poor become poorer.
Oxygen… a movement view
When slapped with these abashing facts one starts to think in the direction of poverty reduction and devising mechanism to ensure fair returns to those producing goods and services at the lowest strata i.e the farmers and laborers.
Unfortunately, the policies of the Planning Commission are not directed towards any of these but largely speaking they are vote bank politics in disguise. The Sixth Pay Commission is one good example. Can we even afford to think on the lines of its recommendation when a huge number of our people are living in abject poverty not only because they are unemployed but because they aren't getting their fair share.
So, While the Prime Minister's announcement to set up the Sixth Pay Commission for Central government employees will bring cheer to well-paid employees, lakhs of citizens in India living below the poverty line without any hope of betterment in their living conditions will be disappointed and frustrated. They know that when the government liberally increases wages and perks to its already affluent employees, it inevitably results in a situation where the funds available for the betterment of the poor and downtrodden will be proportionately reduced. And so the poor become poorer.
Oxygen… a movement view
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