Friday, March, 29,2024

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FOR MAKING INDIA NO. 1, THERE IS STILL A LOT TO DO

New Delhi: Arvind Kejriwal’s Make India Number One campaign sounds good to the ears as a compelling concept but when tested against the stark realities of India, the idea seems farfetched. Take this: In the 2021 Global Hunger Index, India ranked 101st out of the 116 countries. With a score of 27.5, India has a level of hunger that is considered ‘serious’. That too is an average. In certain states and regions of India, the situation is worse and malnutrition and anemia are widespread. Millions of Indian children are stunted, as they don’t reach their full growth potential due to nutritional deficiencies. Water-borne and other simple preventable infections kill millions of children below 5. This brings us to our dismal human development index. According to the Human Development Report 2021-22, India’s rank has slipped to 132 in 2022 out of 191 countries. India is at 144th position out of 194 economies in terms of GDP (nominal) per capita. Even within Asia, where we compete against China, Japan and Singapore, we rank at bottom-end 33rd position. We lead the world in road accident numbers and also in pollution and rape. Let alone US or the UK, in certain parameters we rank even below Bangladesh.

Is a nationwide campaign the magic wand to propel India out of this rut and establish it as the pinnacle of dreams? It is understandable that in his ambition to establish a pan-India presence for AAP and himself, Kejriwal is trying to hard-sell his positive pitch and capitalise on a possible anti-incumbency factor by holding out dreams for a population that feeds on aspirations. But he himself knows that rather any substance in it, AAP is trying to extract the maximum juice out of a political gimmick that ironically is not heading anywhere. People are getting smarter and more informed now; it would no longer be easy for politicians to make the cut by playing up jumlas. On the ground AAP certainly has done better in Delhi than most other parties have ever done in changing lives. But there is a world beyond beyond Delhi, where the political pitch is unpredictable — perceptions change, and so do landscape, culture, priorities and politics. Kejriwal, with his limited exposure to national challenges, will face googlies from the intricacies of regional demography, and he will need to make quick socio-political alignments to tackle new situations. AAP will need to do immense groundwork amid new challenges to redraw the societal underpinnings on which our political structure is built, for much of the old foundation is now either obsolete or eaten up. Away from glitzy campaigns, Kejriwal needs a lot of time and patience to bring about the change he is promising. He may be a master of patience, but how much time he gets is something his work will decide.

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