India's demographic dilemma

29 Oct, 2008, 0311 hrs IST,Janmejaya Sinha,
We talk these days about India's favourable demographics. We are one of the few countries in the world where the dependency ratio will improve in the coming years. There are 570 million people in India under the age of 25. When most of the developed world is beset with the problem of ageing, we have a uniquely young population.
However, whether this is an advantage or not depends on our ability to have a productive population. If we have a large group of young uneducated people without the ability to participate in the workforce, what we will have is a demographic disaster. We will have an army of young people not ready for the 21st century, left behind and increasingly frustrated with their lot. Their frustration can find an outlet in violence and rage that may challenge the very fabric of our society.
India's workforce today has 484 million people. Of these 273 million are working in rural areas primarily in agriculture (many of them clearly underemployed), there are another 61 million working in manufacturing and about 150 million in services. Shockingly, 40% of the current workforce is illiterate and another 40% is below 12 class pass. That means 200 million of our workers cannot even sign their name!
Let me ply you with some unfortunate statistics. Currently about 23 million children are eligible for entry into the school system yet only six million finish the 12 standard and only about 2.3 million graduate. Thus 17 million do not even finish school. It gets worse than that - the quality of education on offer is abysmal. On any day 25% of the teachers are absent and 50% of children in class V cannot read a story and 21% of them cannot recognise numbers. Little wonder that parents dependent on government schools do not see the relevance of sending their children to school.

Gov. school in Vrindavan, UP.

Thank you

Thank you to Deepak Seethi, USA who has donated $11 towards helping Parvati and Gomvati. The plight of these women shows that it is often women who suffer the worst effects of poverty. Thank you to all those who have come forward to support them.

Booming nation, and yet millions still go hungry

INDIA has a booming economy and growing political clout but 200 million of its people still go to bed hungry each night.
More than a third of India's states have alarming levels of hunger according to the Global Hunger Index, released by the International Food Policy Research Institute and the aid agencies Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.
India ranked 66 out of 88 countries in the index. China, a country to which India is sometimes compared, was 15th.
"Despite years of robust economic growth, India scored worse than nearly 25 sub-Saharan African countries and all of South Asia, except Bangladesh," the report says. Almost a fifth of the population was estimated to be "food insecure".
Twelve of the 17 Indian states included in the study fell into the "alarming" category and the northern state of Madhya Pradesh, was rated has having an "extremely alarming" hunger problem. Madhya Pradesh ranked alongside Chad and Ethiopia on the Hunger Index.
http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/booming-nation-and-yet-millions-still-go-hungry/2008/10/15/1223750129914

Update on Paravati (October 10th posting)

Paravati is talking more and getting stronger but is still too weak to properly explain how she ended up lying on the side of the road, dying of starvation.

Doctors have not found anything wrong with her, apart from a fever, which subsided quite quickly after she was admitted. Her main problem seems to be malnourishment, which has left her in such a weak condition that she cannot even walk unsupported.

We are paying an attendant to stay with her in hospital and food for life staff and volunteers are visiting her every day in hospital to check on her progress and bring food for her and her attendant. She is still deathly thin, but we hope that, with some care and attention, she will soon recover. She is getting stronger but she still needs your support.

Thank you

Thank you to anonymous USA for contributing the first $100 toward Paravati's treatment. Paravati is still in hospital. We have spent around $90 on her treatment so far and are hoping that a sponsor will come forward to pay for her next week in hospital.

Please help a starving woman

Food For Life Staff members found this lady lying half starved, curled up on the side of the road. We have no idea how she got there as she has been semi-conscious since we found her.

She told us that he name is Paravati and she is from Indore. She also said that she has 5 sons and they brought her to Vrindavan and dumped her here.

Paravati said, and passers by confirmed, that when we found her she had been lying on the road for 4 days, and she said that it had been 2 weeks since she was dumped on the streets of Vrindavan.

People would walk past and ask if she was alright and sometimes give her tea or food but nobody knew what else to do with her.

2 volunteers at Food For Life, Dhatri Spenser and Jennifer Michael, called a cycle rickshaw and took Paravati back to their room. They fed and washed her before taking her to hospital.

Paravati has now been admitted in Ram Krishna Mission hospital. We desperately need donations to pay for her hospital treatment and to provide ongoing care once she is discharged. Please email me at rupa@fflvrindavan.org with your pledges of support.

Thank you

A big thank you to Barefoot India Travel company, Delhi, Dharma Fundacion, Spain and Taj Bassi, Scotland who have all contributed to paying the $877 needed for these two cases. Thank you very much to these people and companies who have payed for the treatment of Gomvati and Sushant. We appreciate your help.

If you would like to support these generous people, please contact us for your travel needs in India or Scotland.

Thank you + APPEAL

A big thank you to Deepak Sethi, USA, a first time donor to this blog. We now have another $21 to help people that desperately need our support.

Times are tough and everyone is feeling the pinch but these people we are trying to help have absolutely no safety net, only your kindness.

The total that we are now needing to raise for Sushant and Gomvati (see previous posts) is US$877. Please help by contributing what you can. Contact me now at rupa@fflvrindavan.org

Thank you

Anonymous, USA has donated the first $50 for Gomvati. We still have a fair way to go but we are confident in having your support.