HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT --- 2005

Unabated Downhill Path

                                                                             Ardhendu Dakshi

Picture One: German novelist Bruno Apitz has immortalised the saga of saving a child’s life in a German concentration camp in his novel Naked Among Wolves. The tiny toddler was saved by the prisoners from the preying eyes of Nazi soldiers in unbelievable ways while facing brutal torture, hunger, electric shock, even death. When the Soviet army crashed the gates, the semi-dead prisoners came out rushing rejoicing not more for their freedom but they held the child up as their trophy. The child was saved, finally. Thank god, fascism was defeated.

Picture Two: Human Development Report - 2005 tells us another story, not of one more child but about children for whom nobody writes novels. 1200 children all over the world, specially in the developing countries, are dying every hour, uncared, unknown, unreported by the glare of media and thus without creating a ripple in the conscience of the world leaders. 1200 every hour, nearly nine lakh every month, more than a crore every year. Human Development Report – 2005 says it will take three Tsunamis every month to match these figures. Those innocent tiny toddlers die silently because of the single killer --- POVERTY, which is preventable. Tsunami is not preventable but relief can be reached promptly to the survivors, the victims. The rich in the world compete with each other to send relief to the victims. The same rich do not care to look at the hapless children of the poor. Some of them die of diarrhoea because there is no clean water, some others die of pneumonia because there is not enough clothes, but biggest killer is hunger, there is no food even for nominal sustenance. The world is so poor that it cannot give them two morsels of food everyday. They die before they reach the age of five.

INDICTMENT AGAINST THE RICH AND POWERFUL

HDR-2005 is not a mere document full of statistics. It is an indictment against the rich and powerful who have indulged only in hypocrisy, double talk and shedding of crocodile tears for the poor of the world.

The foundation of United Nations was marked by the speech by the Secretary of State of America that “The war has to be fought on two fronts, first front is for security and the second front for freedom from want”. One after another American presidents, even George W Bush, never failed to make high-sounding pledges to remove poverty. And what they have done in practice? HDR 2005 says – since 1990 per capita income of rich countries, particularly the USA has gone up by 6070 dollars per year, and by this time their aid to the poor has come down by one dollar per head per year.

For every dollar of extra aid to the poor the rich countries add  10 dollars to military budget. They give roughly one billion dollars to poor countries as help towards agriculture per year while they pay a subsidy of one billion dollars per day, I repeat, per day to their farmers, for their domestic agriculture. In actual terms three richest countries namely, United States of America, Japan and Italy, have reduced aid to the poor over the years. In 1990 rich countries promised to spend 0.7 per cent of their Gross National Income for the aid of the poor. In this unequal world it is the poor peoples money that goes up to the rich but does not come down and the common people remain poor. The report has given a startling figure, that 500 rich individuals have a combined income greater than the income of 41 crore 60 lakh poor people put together. Yet the rich are not prepared to part with a fraction of their income that could change the lives of the poor. That is why 100 crore people have no safe drinking water, 260 crore people live in filthy squalor amid human wastes because there is no sanitation worth the name.

Even today, after 12 years, the total aid has not crossed 0.3 per cent, may be it is close to 0.25 per cent of their gross national income. In Indian terms 25 paise out of one hundred rupees. It is not aid but alms. The poor suffer the indignity throughout their life. This report is an indictment in strongest terms against the rich and powerful.

AIDS & AID

America’s greatest contribution to mankind in recent times is HIV/AIDS. Developed in laboratory, the virus was first administered in the body of convicted criminals. Finally the virus has found its way out and is now killing millions of people worldwide. Such a crime deserves no mercy. Now America and Americans are posing as saviours and are giving a lot of aid to fight AIDS. But what is the reality? In America 100 per cent HIV/AIDS patients can get treatment, in Africa it is less than 4 per cent and in India it is barely 5 per cent because the medicines, mostly American, are so costly. AIDS can be good business, too. The impact of HIV/AIDS is becoming severe worldwide. Human un-development has started.

AIDS is pulling down Human Development in Sub-Saharan Africa where there are less people to work in fields or factories because from 1990 to date two crore people have died. Now it is spreading fast in East Europe and former Soviet Union, India, China, Latin America. Soon one lakh people will die helplessly everyday. UNDP report says that they hope to reverse the trend only by 2015 if a serious effort can start now, or else…. But as yet there is no sign of abatement of this pandemic in all the developing countries.

HYPOCRISY GALORE

In the year 2000 leaders of 189 countries under the auspices of United Nations made some solemn promises to the poor of the world through the Millennium Declaratoin --- 2000. The eight-point pledges are known as Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the target date of achieving the goals had been fixed at year 2015.

Goal-1: Eradicate extreme hunger and poverty. Halving the proportion of people living on less than $1 a day and halving malnutrition.

Goal-2: Achieve universal primary education. Ensuring that all children are able to complete primary education.

Goal-3: Promote gender equality and empower women. Eliminating gender disparity in primary and secondary schooling, preferably by 2005 and no later than 2015.

Goal-4: Reduce child mortality cutting the under-five death rate by two thirds.

Goal-5: Improve maternal health. Reducing the maternal mortality rate by three quarters.

Goal-6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases. Halting and beginning to reverse HIV/AIDS and other diseases.

Goal-7: Ensure environmental stability. Cutting by half the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

Goal-8: Develop a global partnership for development. Reforming aid and trade with special treatment for the poorest countries.

It was decided that the progress would be reviewed in September 2005.

They have reviewed it. By the good grace of the rich countries the targets have been reduced to half, so the new date will have to be fixed for achieving the Millennium Development Goals. By the present trend it can safely be said that the new date may be in 22nd century.

The reality is that the rich, whether in a country or worldwide, do not care for the poor. They want to be richer, let the poor go to hell. If there is social unrest and violence, those involved can be conveniently labelled as “terrorist” and taken care of. HDR – 2005 has covered full 20 pages to debunk the “war on terror” by military solutions, without touching the basic issues of poverty and unemployment.

The latest Human Development Report has exposed the myth that globalisation, liberalised trade, the WTO, even development aid which, more often than not, is tied with strings, can lead to prosperity and human development. “For the majority of the countries globalisation story is one of divergence and marginalisation,” the report says.

THE SHAME OF INDIA

India, the information technology giant, the would be super power by 2020, ranks 127 in terms of human development among 177 nations. India’s position is thus 34 ranks below Sri Lanka, 64 ranks below Brazil and 42 ranks below China. The startling fact is that in terms of child birth, and child mortality rate Bangladesh has shown remarkable progress, much better than India. Our progress is slowing down.

15 years back India decided to immunize 100 per cent of children. In 2005 the achievement is only 42 per cent. The result is that one in 5 children dying in the world is an Indian. 25 lakh children die every year before they are five.

On the economic front India’s rural economy is stagnating, rural wage is falling and jobless growth has led to serious unemployment.

The most dangerous trend is jobless growth. During the 1980s and 1990s for every 1 per cent rise in Gross Domestic Production (GDP) there was 3 per cent rise in employment. The value of 1 per cent GDP was around Rs 16000 crore on average in those years. At the constant price level now 1 per cent GDP means extra Rs 25000 crore of production but HDR-2005 says that job growth in 21st century is zero. All the wealth generated is being cornered by a few who have become fabulously rich, whereas every year 50 to 60 lakh boys and girls join the queue in the job market.

India has the shameful distinction of being the most brutal with her girl children. 1 lakh 30 thousand girls are “missing” every year. They are being eliminated by either foeticide, or by pushing salt through their mouth at birth, or by not providing medical treatment when they are sick. Girls are neglected in every sphere; in the matters of education, health care, jobs, medical treatment; in every aspect boys get a better treatment than girls – a crime that no other country is at par with India.

HDR – 2005 has exposed the real, world around us, the world of 300 crore people suffering from poverty, hunger, disease, discrimination, and sub-human living conditions. These people are not victims of fate but victims of the system that is cruel, capricious and careless. Media, as a ritual, make a small report, often distorted, that invariably tries to conceal the truth. To present day policy makers development means shopping malls, modern airports, and expressways to drive their ultra modern cars.

It is our duty to see that real development in India takes place by all means. HDR bared the truth and thereby steeled the resolve to fight for genuine development.