The Union Cabinet has cleared a 300 percent salary hike for Members of Parliament, from current Rs 16,000 to Rs 50,000. Not only this, the perks given to MPs have also been doubled. But the “minimal” hike has completely failed to appease our dear MPs, who sought Rs 80,001 salary per month as recommended by a parliamentary committee.
Money rules! It does, certainly. Politics has become a huge money-making business in India. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the number of crorepati MPs has increased from 156 in 2004 to 315 in 2009.
The non-governmental organisation further noted in its report that the average worth of assets of an MP in the Lower House has increased from Rs 1.86 crore to Rs 5.33 crore in the last five years. How does the bank balance of our politicians go up when the living conditions of the poor and the common man continue to go down?
Just compare and contrast: There are more poor people in eight Indian states (421 million in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal) than in the 26 poorest African countries combined (410 million). The statistics were revealed with the help of a new measure called the Multidimensional Poverty Index, which was developed and applied by the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative with UNDP support.
In 2009, Vandana Shiva of NGO Navdanya had said that India has emerged as the world’s capital of hunger with 214 million hungry people.
More than 70% of India’s under-five children are anaemic.
The Tata Institute of Social Sciences noted last year that two out of three of India’s 1.1 billion people still live and work in rural areas and as many as 1,50,000 debt-hit farmers have killed themselves in the past decade.
According to UNICEF, 665 million Indians don’t have access to toilets, so they defecate in public.http://www.zeenews.com/news649898.html
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Man sells daughter in open auction
KADAPA: In a shocking incident, a man sold his six-year-old daughter in an open auction in Kadapa district on Wednesday in his desperation to buy liquor.
Krishnaiah, 40, a daily wage labourer, of Lakkireddypalle in Rayachoti constituency sold his daughter to one Mohd Basha for Rs 1,000 in Ramapuram. With the news spreading like wild fire, police entered the scene and rescued the girl.
It all started when Krishnaiah, a drunkard, went to a liquor shop in the morning but the shop owner denied him liquor since he has incurred a heavy debt. In dire need, the man took his daughter to nearby Ramapuram and put her up for sale. The bid started at Rs 300 ($6.40).
Finally, Bhasha paid Rs 1,000 ($23) and took the girl along with him. But the cops got wind of the shocking news and caught hold of Krishnaiah. They beat him up. Fearing that the police would arrest him, Bhasha left the girl on the street and fled from the spot.
Meanwhile, the police took Krishnaiah into custody. A case was registered.
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Special thanks to Chiam Shine for giving $100 towards Poonam's case. Only $256 left to go!
Poonam Meets Vivek Oberoi and Sushmita Sen
Earlier this week Vivek Oberoi and Sushmita Sen visited Sandipani Muni School in Vrindavan. During the visit they met Poonam in our Kikinagla Medical Center. They were touched by her story, and gave her lots of much-needed encouragement and affection.
For more images of Vivekji and Sushmitaji at Food for Life Vrindavan, please click here: http://www.fflvrindavan.org/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=15180
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