Elderly care - a lesson from China

The Time magazine, in one of its issues, before Barak Obama was to visit China in 2009, made a mention of a few things that he could learn from the Chinese. Among them were the Chinese habit of saving and the care that they take of the elderly. Chinese have not given up these traditions in the euphoria of accretion of untold riches. Both are twined together, as one becomes the enabling element for the other.

The magazine expected Obama to harangue the Chinese to spend more, consume more and, “believe it or not, to become more like Americans”, forgetting the irreversible Chinese habit of saving. Imprudence and profligacy, with not a thought ever given to the idea of saving for the future, have been the hallmark of Americans, i.e. until around 2005 when the personal-savings rate in the US hit zero. The sub-prime crisis changed all that. The shockwaves that emanated from the crisis reverberated around the world but taught a lesson to the Americans which they are unlikely to forget in a hurry. It prompted them to snap-shut their wallets, inducing them to be more careful with their money. The consumer spending plunged with rising unemployment, “heavy debt loads” and credits that became tighter. For the first time in many decades Americans became prudent spenders. The savings rate lifted itself from 0% to a high of 6% late in 2009.

Although China has come a long way during the last 60 years, it has not shed many of its traditions and saving is one of them. When the Communists seized control in 1949 China was a poverty-stricken basket case. Mostly an agrarian country, it was ravaged by food shortages and famines. From Mao’s collective farms, hidden from the world behind a “bamboo curtain”, China today has emerged as the “world’s factory” and is now readily acknowledged as the world’s fastest growing economy, an industrial and military superpower. Unabashed capitalism adopted by Mao’s successors converted a once-peasant society to one that is modern and is virtually aping the West in all respects. With a couple of trillions in foreign currency reserves, China has become the world’s third largest trading country and soon it is going to become Asia’s largest economy. While during the last twenty years its poverty rate has fallen from 53% to just 8%, its middle class has progressively become richer and some of the rich are aiming to become “big rich”.

And yet, the Chinese have not given a go by to their traditional practices. Personal financial prudence, for example, has for centuries been held in high esteem in China and hence it has a high saving rate – above 20%. Saving for the future for the Chinese has all along been necessary for the simple reason that they have to take care not only of their children but also their aging parents. This is a cultural norm which has not undergone any change despite the perceptible transformation in their living standards. Regardless of the fact whether one is a wage-earner or a billionaire real-estate agent, across the socio-economic hierarchy care for aging parents has remained the norm and has for long been accepted as a familial duty. Looking for its reasons outsiders may attribute it to the absence of publicly funded pensions or healthcare systems. The absence of such social security nets may have, according to them, even incentivized the practice. Whatever the reasons, the fact, however, is that for the life of them, the Chinese are unlikely to ever think of going and parking their parents in homes for elders or nursing homes. It is not in their ‘system’ and the practice, apart from being abhorrent, is just not acceptable and is likely to remain so regardless of the new initiatives, if any, that the State takes.

This is in direct contrast to what obtains in the United States. The American nursing homes are so chockful of the elderly that soon there may not be enough space in them for fresh arrivals. By 2030 their number is likely to soar to 70-odd million. The explanations given for the large scale use of these homes by the elderly are many and varied. While it is contended that three generations living together was virtually a norm once upon a time in America, all this witnessed a break-down during the last century when Americans became more mobile, and, in the process, rootless having to move from state to state in search of better economic prospects. Caring for the aging parents from two or three time zones away, thus, was stated to have become difficult. Nursing homes provided a very viable alternative for proper care and treatment of the elderly by personnel who were professionally trained. The practice, nonetheless, is likely to undergo a change for reasons that are patently economic. Nursing home services being frightfully expensive, with the progressive cutback on personal expenses the emphasis may eventually come on home-care for the elderly – even if it eventually has to be subsidized by the State.
In India, however, the situation in this respect happens to be dismal. Despite the traditional respect and care for the elderly, the elders largely find themselves in an unenviable situation. As long as the concept of joint family remained intact, they, apart from being cared for, wielded considerable authority within the family. No major family decision would ever be taken without their approval. However, the system progressively faded away with modernization, industrialization, urbanization, education and ever more ‘nuclearisation’ of families. Simultaneously, the values that invested the elderly with respect and authority also got largely eroded. No wonder, the tradition that demanded care for the elderly also melted away into thin air.
The problem in India gets compounded because of the huge population, almost 33%, that survives in abject poverty (below the poverty line). The elderly in such families, generally, have to be left to their own devices. Often when younger ones migrate to towns looking for employment the infirm elders are left behind in the villages to fend for themselves. Worse, 90% of the labour force in the country is in the unorganized sector of the economy where post-retirement benefits are mostly absent. While the traditional system broke down nothing new emerged in the shape of social security or safety nets for the elderly, barring a few attempts by some states. Pitiable and utterly inadequate, they are more in the nature of an exercise in tokenism.

Indians are also great savers. The current household saving rate in India continues to be high – above 20%. And, yet Indians are increasingly becoming selfish and are reluctant to support their elderly in the manner they should. Some, in metropolitan towns, happened to indulge in behavior with their own parents that was utterly un-Indian, unethical and not in keeping with the country’s traditional values. Parents were, reportedly, driven out of their homes by their own progeny. Even some murders of the elderly were reported in order to secure ownership of parental property. In view of the increasing hardships inflicted on the elderly by their own offshoot, the government, shamefully, had to bring in an enactment for the welfare and maintenance of parents and senior citizens. Parents can now demand from their progeny food, clothing, allowances, medicines and a place to live in accordance with law.

Clearly, it is not the US alone that needs to imbibe from China some of its social mores. Even India, despite its rich traditions and culture but somehow having lost its way, would do well to imbibe some of them.

Winning back people from Maoists' hold

“No roads lead into Naxal-affected areas” screamed a headline recently in a national daily. An internal review the other day at the Planning Commission revealed what has been known all these years. Among the 34 districts reviewed by the Plan Panel, Dantewada in the Bastar region of the Chhattisgarh State had the poorest record on road connectivity. The district was the scene of a recent carnage when Maoists, aka Naxalites, killed as many as 76 police personnel in a well planned ambush near Chintalnar village. According to the Panel member secretary, road connectivity is a big issue in Maoists-affected districts. While district officials cannot be easily deployed in these districts, those who are available do the work of village development out of the district headquarters for want of roads.

Virtually, like rediscovering the wheel, the Planning Commission, with the help of the National Informatics Centre (NIC), has stumbled upon the fact that the country’s worst developed districts include its most Naxal-hit ones. It sounds somewhat strange that this realisation has dawned upon the Planning Commission now when the Maoists have carved out an extensive “red corridor” for themselves covering eight states of the Union, pushing the Indian State out of the territories occupied by them. That there was a strong correlation between the lack of development and rise of Naxalism has been known all these years, though the recent revelations at the Commission may have been backed up by more solid data collected by the NIC.

In order to overcome the problems born out of lack of development the Commission plans to launch an Integrated Action Plan which seeks to speed up the process of filling up of the developmental gaps in the 34 districts spanning 8 states. Looks like, the Commission is serious this time as it proposes to convince the states to focus on these gaps and provide feedback on expenditure on centrally funded schemes. Perhaps, the recent massacre of police personnel has prompted the urgency.

Likewise, around the same time the Home Minister, P Chidambaram, while speaking at the national conference of the Confederation of Indian Industry, felt there couldn’t be any end to the Naxal problem without winning people’s trust. In the prevailing conflict-situation people were in deep distress and the “government model was unable to deliver”. He said that Maoists were destroying with a design schools and anything symbolic of the government. In the process, according to him, they are happy as people cannot read (for lack of schools), people cannot communicate (for lack of telephones) and nothing can move in or out (for want of roads). “We have a formidable adversary whereas we have a weak administration (State governments)” said the Minister. By the admission of the state governments, the Minister said, one-third of the funds for developmental work could not be spent in the affected areas for a variety of reasons.

Wondering whether development should precede police action, Chidambaram underscored the difficulties of delivery in areas where the government could not even enter. He said “we have to be practical. In some areas it is possible, in some areas it is not ... The government would continue with its two pronged strategy of carrying forward its development effort and a calibrated and controlled police action in order to assert civilian authority in the affected areas.”

Neither the Planning Commission nor the Home Minister seemed to have been aware of how under the leadership of a gritty collector Maoists were pushed back in the badly affected Balaghat district of Madhya Pradesh. For his extraordinary achievements the collector, Gulshan Bhamra, was also bestowed with the Prime Minister’s Excellence Award in April 2010. Bhamra’s is a singular example of winning the trust of the people and bringing them back into the mainstream. Sheer inspired leadership, teamwork and grit won him spectacular results.

Balaghat district in Madhya Pradesh bordering on Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra was one of the 223 districts in the country that were severely affected by Naxalism. Infiltrating from Rajnandgaon district of Chhattigarh and Bhandara district of Maharashtra in the early 1990s, the Naxals quickly consolidated their hold in the largely forested district. Many of its villages, estimated to be around 400, were “liberated” and the State’s writ did not run in them. Killings and destruction of government property were commonplace events. A cabinet minister of the then Digvijay Singh government, LR Kavre, was killed in his house in his own village and the chief minister was not very sure whether he should take the risk of attending the funeral.

Things were so bad. Even Bhamra, after he was posted as collector, is reported to have assumed charge only after good deal of procrastination. However, once he joined, he gave to the job whatever he had and during his three-year tenure achieved results that were amazing and should have been trumpeted all over the country. Road connectivity in the district shot up from 520 km to 2,228 km. With roads rapidly coming up, telecom companies started installing cell-phone towers improving the connectivity with the wider world. About 28000 hectares of new lands were brought under irrigation. Harvesting of forest produce that had been suspended was resumed and the works of collection of tendu leaves and bamboo felling was re-started. The revenue from forest produce doubled from 28 crore in 2006-07 to 55 crore in 2008-09. As people got jobs closer home, migrations out of villages dropped from 4217 in 2005-06 to 2840 in 2008-09. The result of all these activities was progressive fall in Naxal activities. The number of attacks fell from 21 in 2005 to 7 in 2006 and, amazingly, none in 2009.

It is not that the government model failed everywhere, as Chidambaram lamented. It works but it depends on the genius of the district-head. In Balaghat, Bhamra went only after what was hurting the people most and resultantly exploited by the Maoists – non-availability of healthcare and medicines, lack of jobs, lack of roads and connectivity. He got it all from the people whom he would meet at the village “haats”. Besides, Bhamra adopted the integrated approach that Planning Commission has decided upon only now. For instance, instead of using the funds received under the NREGS in isolation, he integrated the developmental funds available under various central and state schemes and pumped them into the process of development. The works progressed fast and were further speeded up as the powers to monitor and supervise them were given to the people through the panchayats. More importantly, he led by example and the entire district administration lined up behind him to contribute to the common cause – the welfare of the people in order to defeat the Maoists. And, true enough they were beaten back, not by force but by the sheer will of an increasingly happier and contented people.

Balaghat’s is a model that is a welcome change for a nation so bedevilled by the Maoist violence. It should be tried elsewhere in the State where many districts offer fertile grounds for rise of Naxalism. It can even be replicated in other affected states, though maybe, it will not work in areas where the state has no presence. Elsewhere, however, similar approaches, founded on local needs, could be attempted to gradually wrest as many districts as possible from the hold of the Maoist’s. What is required is a firm political will at the top and, at the district level, an inspired leadership with commitment to the wellbeing of the people

The multimillion rupee bribes

One wonders whether it is just coincidence. In at least three recent cases three different individuals were nabbed for asking for and accepting bribes of Rs. 2 crore (Rs. 20 million). Manjit Singh Bali, holding the very senior position of Chief Postmaster General of Maharashtra & Goa, was caught red-handed accepting bribe of Rs. 2 crore and was promptly arrested. Similarly, a senior lady officer, perhaps an additional commissioner of the Income Tax Department in Thane, Maharashtra, was also arrested for taking Rs. 2 crore as bribe. She was working in cahoots with her husband who acted as the cash collector. Ketan Desai, Chairman of the Medical Council of India, too was nabbed while taking a Re 2-crore bribe. Coincidence or not, this infernal amount, apparently some sort of going rate, is jinxed.

There is something about crores that make those who want a great life ask for it. A few lakhs or even a crore, apparently, are passé – presumably, not enough to buy all that an ambitious and thoroughly unscrupulous person looking for a great life desires. Looks like, the amount of a couple of crores or more is somewhat like El Dorado; it drives people to put at stake everything they have to get there. The seductive high life beckons them like a temptress and, finding it irresistible, they succumb to its charms and take the plunge.

How times have changed! Only a few decades back a crore was something eminently ungettable any which way for an official. Back then not many aspired to accumulate even a lakh (one hundred thousand rupees). Lakhpaties were few and could be counted on finger tips. Among the middle classes “four-figure salaries” were a big deal. Parents used to look for “beautiful, fair and highly accomplished” brides for their sons claiming a “four-figure salary” for them. In the 1960s the best of services, including the civil services, used to start off with a three-figure salary of Rs. 400/- with, maybe, Rs. 10/- as DA. Only at retirement one would end up with a salary of four figures. Looking into the future in those days one thought one’s life would be made if one, after judiciously managing one’s finances, could retire with around a lakh in the bank and live off the (woefully meagre) pension that was yet to be made 50% of the last pay.

Looking back, one finds that ambitions and aspirations of the kind one sees today to strike it big had yet to raise their ugly heads. Unbelievable as it may seem, those were the days of innocence. Not quite open to the wider world, we were yet to be exposed to the glitz and glamour of the West – its acquisitiveness and its consumerism. The system had kept the people, including most of the bureaucracy, insulated from external influences. While politicians made merry, the rest lived out their lives in an economy of shortages. Those who were straight – and most were so – lived a life, even at the higher levels of the bureaucracy, which was, if anything, Spartan. Even in early 1980s Secretaries and additional secretaries to Government of India would routinely ride chartered buses in Delhi to go to office – and they were not ashamed of doing so.

A sea-change seems to have occurred with the opening up of the economy. With multinationals and foreign corporations setting shop in the country and consequential burgeoning of demands of IT and management professionals the pay packages skyrocketed. Not to be left behind, the last two pay commissions gave the salaries in the government a huge heave, so much so that the top bureaucrats today are at spitting distance of the five-figure mark. And yet, corrupt remained corrupt, perhaps became more so, setting their sights higher looking for multi-crore underhand deals, presumably to compete with those in private sector. In Madhya Pradesh as many three IAS officers, including an IAS couple (both of Principal Secretary level) were found by tax officials with money and jewellery stashed away in several lockers worth several crores sources of which they could not explain. Recently a Joint Secretary of the Ministry of Home Affairs at the Centre was nabbed and disclosures made by intelligence sleuths on phone tapping carried by the Outlook magazine made a mention of a senior official in South Block negotiating for a bribe of Rs 8 crores. Seems like everyone is chasing rainbows!

There were corrupt even then but their numbers were limited. Politicians were (and are even today) corrupt. They used to play around with ill-gotten crores during the elections. Hung elections were happy events for many politicians as that was when they would sell themselves to the highest bidder. Bureaucracy was, however, largely untouched by this malaise. Some would surely indulge in wheeling and dealing but that would not involve mindboggling sums like those of today. With ethical and moral standards getting a knock-over, people now have become reckless. Those who want to make it big by hook or by crook, seemingly, think nothing of facing the indignity of being caught in the act of committing a crime which is still considered reprehensible, though bribe-giving or bribe-taking has virtually become our way of life.

They are not held back by the prospects of being unable to look at their family, friends, colleagues and subordinates in the eye or being hustled like common criminals in public and media gaze by policemen into waiting vans with heavily grilled windows and, unlike their official luxury sedans, with seats that are hard and straight-backed on which a posse of gruff cops make themselves comfortable all around, seemingly, to prevent an escape, if attempted. Myriad 24X7 TV news channels show their discomfiture in half-hourly news-bulletins dragging their names through mud and slime. Further indignities await them when they are detained and eventually jailed by having to rub shoulders with the dregs of society.

Consumed by the Western consumer-culture people in general and those wielding power and influence in particular seem to be losing their sense of balance and character. Worse, our demand-driven development model, unfortunately, promotes the same cult of consumerism. With the progressively loosening grip of traditional values, weaker minds seem to be falling prey, as it were, to this monster and are opting for a self-defeating denouement. It is a contagion which seems to be rapidly spreading in the current Indian society and, unless checked, may engulf all of it with consequences that could be disastrous.

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A minister on rampage

There are very few Indian politicians who are sensitive to history or, for that matter, to nature, wildlife or environment and other similar branches of administration that take a little refinement in one’s persona. Game parks and nature reserves for them are a waste of good fertile lands. Likewise, protecting wildlife is a wasteful effort as they require forests that, again, have to be maintained and if clean-felled could yield minerals or agricultural products. Similarly, maintenance of old, ill-kept hundreds of years old historical structures with fine stone-work and other embellishments are for them futile and wasteful effort. These, generally, situated close to or inside old cities could for them be demolished and made available for public use. That they are of historical value and are beautiful and sublime heritage of the city or a region, depicting its past culture, exhibiting its earlier way of life through their peculiar and contrived architecture is of no concern to them.

Many may not believe all this as these would seem to belittle our present-day rulers. But all these are evident in the central Indian city of Bhopal which, though not in the same league as Agra, Delhi or Jaipur in respect of heritage buildings, possesses beautiful examples of late-medieval Islamic architecture and a millennium-old lake. Both are in for some damage in the near future as Babu Lal Gaur, Minister for Urban Administration and Development in the provincial government seems to be on rampage. In his earlier avatars as a minister of the same department he was known as “the bulldozer” for having bulldozed all the encroachments. He did a lot of good work by removing unauthorised structures on public property. Of late, he seems to have assumed the same role and, that too, with vigour. However, this time it looks somewhat sinister as the natural and man-made heritage have been chosen for attack.

After having lavished his attention to New Bhopal by upgrading three of its roads he has turned his attention to Old Bhopal, presumably to appear fair to the denizens of the neglected, congested and the dusty Old City. But it is turning out to be somewhat of a setback for the city’s heritage. The Old City is congested and crowded because it has grown, unlike the new city, over the past centuries from a nucleus and it is, quite naturally, littered with heritage structures. The governments, having little sense of history, have mindlessly demolished most of them during the last few decades. The ones now picked up for demolition are those which had managed to escape the JCB machines and have now received Gaur’s attention. Among them are one remaining gate out of around six of the original Walled City built in early 18th Century, Sheesh Mahal, a historical palace in a complex that is known as Royal Ensemble, representative of the distinctive nawabi-era fusion-architecture of Bhopal, built in middle of 19th Century and a British structure of 1862 housing a post office located in the busy Jumerati area. All these are to come under the axe to provide space for parking.

Most unfortunately Gaur made a statement that the structures in question were not of heritage status as these were not listed as such with the Archaeological Department according to what an official of this Department accompanying him had told him. It is surprising as according to a senior postal official the Archaeological Department have planted a placard in front of the post office indicating that it is a monument of historic importance. As regards Sheesh Mahal and Jumerati Gate any imbecile would say that these have to be none other than protected structures. If the three structures are really not listed as protected monuments in the records of the Archaeological Department the records should be updated otherwise action needs to be taken against the official who misled the minister.

Worse in one of his statements Gaur aggressively questioned the “intellectuals” as to where they were when the structures were crumbling. Unfortunately Gaur seems to forget that maintenance of the city’s heritage is one of the prime mandates of the government which has not been fulfilled by his past colleagues in the governments over the last few decades. However, but for citizens’ chorus, which I too had joined, restoration of Taj Mahal would not have commenced and Gauhar Mahal would not have survived. In fact, Gaur is reported to have desired demolition of Taj Mahal’s at one time and Digvijay Singh wanted to raze Gauhar Mahal for raising a shopping mall. Even earlier, refugees from Pakistan were shoved into the glorious Taj Mahal like cattle, then a recently inherited palace from a feudal Nawab, and that’s when the maximum damage was caused to it.

But, it must be handed to Gaur; no minister moves around as he does most mornings of the week with whole jing-bang of officials, issuing directions for improvement of the town. During his several of such trips the Upper Lake came in for special attention. Directions were given on the spot for creating several boat clubs all around the Lake, construction of jetties and a bridge right across the Lake to the Takia Island and planting of some more fountains in the Lake - not for oxygenation of the waters, but to attract tourists. Then, he ordered erection of a statue somewhere in or around the Lake of revered Raja Bhoj who bestowed the Lake to the town a millennium ago and parking a decommissioned naval ship. This would mean another hideous statue going up, like several others ‘decorating’ the cross roads and a, reportedly, rotting naval vessel due for ship-breakers to be transplanted to the Upper Lake to pollute it further.

Gaur’s enthusiasm for attracting tourists to the Lake is admirable but he, from all knowledgeable accounts, is overdoing things – mostly to the detriment of the Lake and the people who depend on it for succour. He should know that being an important source of drinking water tourists should be kept as far away as possible from the Lake.

What is more, his own department of Urban Administration had “expressions of interest” invited on a global basis for development and conservation of the Upper Lake keeping in view the provisions of the Ramsar Convention, especially those relating to “wise use” of the Lake. For Gaur, who is the Minister in-charge of the Department that is processing the proposals received in this regard, to issue fiats of the kind he did was highly improper as the assessors of the proposals are likely to get inhibited from making honest assessments.

It seems the time has come to stop Gaur in his tracks and prevent him from causing more damage to the town’s persona. There’s going to be more work for the citizens who will have to remain vigilant and active.

India's unending riddle of poverty

Two interesting news items caught my attention the other day. One contained details of a Supreme Court report released last week that sought to redefine poverty in the country. The report authored by a former Supreme Court Judge, Justice DP Wadhwa, widening the definition of poverty, said that every Indian with an income below Rs. 100.00 per day should be considered as poor and eligible for official subsidies, including 35 kgs of grains for his/her family. Swelling the ranks of the poor, Justice Wadhwa’s benchmark for determination of poverty would add 500 million people to the official tally of around 250 to 300 million poor. The Wadhwa report has the potential of acquiring the status of a statute if it is accepted by the Supreme Court after hearings slated for next month.

One can really have no quarrel with the contention of Justice Wadhwa. In Rs. 3000/- a month a bread-winner can hardly provide shelter, food and healthcare for his/her family, leave alone education of his/her children in these days of high inflationary pressures, especially on the prices of food items. No wonder, therefore, hunger and malnutrition are stalking the country. That, of course, does not bother our politicians and that, precisely, what the second interesting news item I referred to indicates.

For them, the days of the rather unwelcome “austerity”, imposed by the government in September 2009, are over. The economic downturn, apparently, is well and truly behind us with the economy, showing remarkable buoyancy, has taken a high-growth trajectory. Hence, no more travel by “cattle class” by our ministers and bureaucrats. From 1^st April 2010 onwards, they all will travel in their entitled class by air which, for ministers and senior bureaucrats, is first class, generally, with a free ticket for a companion thrown in. Viewing the uncalled for imposition as meaningless, many politicians accepted it grudgingly. Some others, who resisted, were made to fall in line.

Earlier, during the period of “austerity”, the ministers gave themselves a handsome gift by way of being able to carry unlimited number of companions in planes by business class. If plain MPs already enjoyed the facility, why should the ministers be denied the same? All this happened when reports of hunger and malnutrition had been sequentially rocking the nation. Likewise, with 60% children suffering from malnutrition in Madhya Pradesh, its legislators recently gave themselves a handsome hike in their pay and allowances. Our fat cat politicians are unable to empathise with the widespread poverty. The eminent agricultural scientist, Dr MS Swaminathan, commenting recently on the paradox of grains rotting in godowns when people went hungry, said, “Poverty does not seem to stir our conscience”. The statement is actually directed towards the power-wielders and policy makers who are none other than the politicians and bureaucrats.

Be that as it may, Justice Wadhwa’s is the most recent of numerous past efforts to identify the poor. After sixty years of independence a poverty-stricken country such as ours is yet to identify the poor Indian. The question seems to be so complex that it has defied resolution all these years. Estimating the incidence of poverty in India involves the use of a minimum consumption expenditure, anchored in an average (food) energy adequacy norm of 2,400 and 2,100 kilo calories per capita per day. If one went by the criterion of World Bank – those who survived in less than $ 1 (Rs. 46/-) a day – there would be around 300 million poor Indians. However, a recent report submitted by the committee, set up by the Prime Minister for suggesting new methodologies for measuring poverty, headed by Suresh Tendulkar, an eminent economist, pegged the figure at 370 million. The estimates made by states based on household income further pushes up the figure to 420 million. Further, one recalls that Arjun Sengupta, the then Chairman of National Commission for Enterprise in Unorganised Sector, in his report submitted in 2007 on Conditions of Work & promotion of Livelihood in Unorganised Sector, showed that a staggering 836 million (about 77% of the population) lived on a per capita consumption of less than Rs. 20/- (less than 50 cents) a day. According to him, one was classified as poor – below poverty line (BPL) – if he lived in less than Rs. 9/- (25 cents) a day and others whose per capita consumption was less than Rs.13/- were above the poverty line (APL). Again, the World Bank recently estimated that 80% of Indians lived on less than $ 2/- (Rs. 96/-) a day. While $2/- a day is close to Justice Wadhwa’s estimation, the percentage of poor calculated by the World Bank is about the same as discovered by Arjun Sengupta. Apparently, our exceptionally high economic growth rate has had no impact on the country’s poverty.

So, the conundrum continues. Who is poor and how many like him are there in the country is not really known. And yet, the government spends of mindboggling sums of money on poverty alleviation have had no impact on the incidence of poverty. Allocations of money, grains and other benefits for the poor seem to have disappeared into thin air. The question has now acquired criticality with the proposed Food Security legislation. The amount to be spent on this score would depend on the poverty estimation chosen by the government. With the government not quite sure of the quantum of poverty, its liabilities on the food front could go through the roof once the bill becomes law. With a vague number of identified poor and an inefficient and corrupt public distribution system (PDS), it would be very ambitious of the government to fulfill its future legal obligations.

In the meantime, however, people, especially women and children, in several tribal pockets in Orissa, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, etc, are dying of hunger and malnutrition. While hunger can be tackled by supply of grains, tackling malnutrition is a different ball game. Malnutrition descends from one generation to another as under-nourished mothers go on producing under-nourished children – eventual dregs of Indian society. With unavailability of nutritious diet, the cycle continues, seemingly, unendingly.

Uncared for and helpless, such people need the government’s immediate attention. Forgetting about identification of the poor in cities, towns and villages, the government needs to concentrate on the areas which are struck by hunger and malnutrition. At least these areas and the people are identifiable as “poverty” is writ large over them. And, they are not in multi-millions. Rendering help to them by supply of grains and nutritious diet and ensuring their regular supplies, seemingly, would be more rational than making them dependent on a fraudulent and undependable PDS. And, the ‘really poor’ have no money to buy food, anyway. Besides, educating and advising them for stepping out of chronic poverty by providing means to acquire economic independence will go a long way to reduce their ranks. No legislation is required for ensuring them food security as precisely this is what the government is meant for.

Fighting malnutrition with Moringa

It is such a shame that the level of malnutrition in India, the home of Moringa tree, is nearly twice of what prevails in Sub-Saharan Africa. The World Bank, in a report last year, slamming the Government of India on its tag of “one of the most malnourished nations in the world” said that robust economic growth and food security by themselves would not lower the incidence of malnutrition, especially among women and children. Stating that malnourishment rates are high, 54 % among scheduled castes and scheduled tribes and 50% among rural children, the report observed a mismatch between “intentions and implementation” in the Integrated Child Development programme. The nutrition-related sectoral plans of other ministries were also found to have remained mostly unimplemented. Even the Mid-day Meal Programme, while ensuring better attendance in schools, has failed to be of value in reducing malnutrition.

This is not all. Noting that 2000 to 3000 children die of malnutrition every day, even the UK-based Institute of Development Studies described India as an “economic powerhouse but a nutritional weakling”. With 46% children in the country still malnourished, the Institute felt India would not be able to meet the UN Millennium Goals of halving the number of hungry citizens by 2015. Veena S Rao, a former secretary to the Government of India, in her book “Malnutrition, an emergency: what it costs the nation” estimated that malnutrition has led to a loss of 4% in GDP. Stressing that malnutrition was a huge human resource calamity, she called for making “high-energy low-cost food” available to the poor.

This is precisely where Moringa, the “Miracle Tree”, our humble drumstick tree (botanical name: Moringa oleifera), has a role. For many, it is inconceivable that this non-descript tree could ever be an effective foil against the prevailing widespread malnutrition in the country.

Malnutrition is caused by deficiencies of micro-nutrients like, inter alia, iron deficiency anemia (IDA), vitamin A deficiency (VAD),, iodine deficiency disorders (IDD). About 70 per cent of pre-school children suffer from IDA. Further, low birth-weight (LBW) is one of the key causes of under-nutrition in India, where about 30 per cent of the children are born with LBW largely due to poor maternal nutrition. Almost a third of the women have a body mass index below normal and the prevalence of anemia among pregnant women is around 60%. Besides, want of proper sanitation and hygiene, coupled with lack of safe drinking water and consequential gastro-intestinal disorders, are basic causes of under-nutrition and chronic ill-health. The United Nations has defined malnutrition as a state in which an individual can no longer maintain natural bodily capacities such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, learning abilities, physical work and resisting and recovering from diseases.

The miraculous Moringa Tree could take care of most of the nutritional deficiencies if only it is put to proper use. Increasingly considered as the world’s most valuable natural resource, the main constituents of the tree are several nutritive ingredients. Its leaves, pods and flowers are considered good sources of vitamins A, B, B2, B3, B6 and C, folic acid, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, calcium, iron, and amino acids. More importantly, its leaves are highly nutritious, being a significant source of beta-carotene, vitamin C, protein, iron and potassium. In fact, Australians claim that the Moringa tree provides 7 times the Vitamin C in oranges, 4 times the calcium in milk, 4 times the Vitamin A in carrots, 2 times the protein in milk, and 3 times the potassium in bananas.

A versatile plant with a multitude of natural attributes, Moringa is great food for humans and animals alike. Its leaves, flowers and fruits, all are edible. Its leaves, dried and powdered, when added to the diet of undernourished children enhance their appetite and increase their weight. Among the nursing mothers it markedly increases lactation providing greater nutrition for the suckling infants. It also makes great fodder for cattle. Experiments have revealed that the weight of livestock increased upto 32 per cent through Moringa feed, increasing their milk by 43%. As in the case of humans the dried leaves appear to be much more effective.

What is, perhaps as important is the capability of the Moringa seeds to purify water and thus take care of many of the ailments, including the debilitating diarrhea, of the rural folk that arise from unsafe drinking water. The pulp of the seeds makes an effective coagulant, which can be used to clean turbid waters. In an hour or so of immersion of seeds, the contaminants are pulled to the bottom of the water. Researchers have shown that the seeds, in the process, also neutralise over 90% of bacteria and viruses present in the water, rendering it safer for, both humans and cattle. This it can do even after extraction of its oil, called ben oil, which is of use in several industries.

With its incredible diverse utility as a medicinal, industrial and ecological plant, planting the tree in and around Indian villages, therefore, makes perfect economic sense. Native of India and widely distributed in the country in virtually in its every region, it can grow fast and in any condition. It is drought resistant and has remarkable survival instincts. It is kind of a “never say die” plant, so much so that it is difficult to kill it. It can, with facility, green the semi-arid regions of the country rendering several benefits to the local communities.

Africa is using the tree in a big way to fight hunger and malnutrition. The value of the Moringa tree has been documented and has been found to be sustainable solution to malnutrition in the continent. What is more, a new remarkable attribute has since been discovered and that is its capacity to build up the immune systems. Hard hit by HIV/AIDS, a huge number of the drought resistant trees are being planted in most of the affected countries of Africa.

Internationally some non-governmental organizations like Trees for Life, Church World Service, and Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization — have actively advocated Moringa as “natural nutrition for the tropics”. The beneficiaries have been some of the Central and South American, African and Asian countries. No such governmental or non-governmental initiative has so far taken off in this country though it happens to be the world’s largest producer of Moringa. It seems it is yet to be appreciated that Moringa could well be the provider of (Veena Rao’s) “high-energy, low-cost food” for the Indian anemic and malnourished.

For emancipation of the deprived and the disadvantaged from the curse of chronic ill-health and malnutrition a well thought-out campaign to harvest the varied benefits of Moringa through, inter alia, gram panchayats and anganwadis is, therefore, direly needed