Lack of attention on education, health magnified in Modi rule: Amartya Sen
New Delhi, July 8 : Nobel-winning economist Amartya Sen said the lack of attention on social sectors had taken a "quantum jump in the wrong direction" since the BJP came to power and that despite the visible prominence of backwardness in India, the political dispensation was diverting attention from the core issues.
"Things have gone pretty badly wrong. Even previously before this government, we did not do enough on education and health. But it has taken a quantum jump in the wrong direction since 2014," Amartya Sen said on Saturday during a discussion on his new book "Bharat Aur Uske Virodhabhas" (India and its Contradictions), co-authored with economist Jean Dreze.
Pointing out the contradiction in India getting backward while also being the fastest growing economy in the world, the Nobel Laureate said: "Twenty years ago, of the six countries in this region, India was the second best after Sri Lanka. Now it is the second worst."
"And because of Pakistan's problems, Pakistan has managed to shield us from being the worst," he said.
He added that while people should take pride in the things that India has, they must be critical of those things of which they have reason to be ashamed.
"Despite the easy prominence of backwardness in India... now if you try to draw attention to that, the way to deflect it is to say: now think about the great pride of India," Sen said.
He said despite the enormous inequalities, it was possible to distract attention.
"A great writer who I admire, V.S. Naipaul, who wrote such a novel like 'A House for Mr Biswas', could also write that what happened after the 13th century was destruction of Hindu temples and Hindu civilisation, overlooking that this is also when new ideas were coming in.
"If you can distract V.S. Naipaul's attention then you can distract the attention of most intelligent people," the Nobel Laureate said.
"The result is that there has been deflection. When there has been this deflection, we have to do something anti-deflection," he added.
Dreze, who co-authored the book, said while India, in the last few years, had got some success in its quest to become the fastest growing economy -- "helped partly by slowdown in China's growth and partly by some jugglery of numbers" -- there is a significant difference between growth and development.
"While development is the goal, economic growth is the medium to achieve that goal. And it's something to think about that despite 7 per cent GDP growth, the income of the rural labourer has remained the same and yet no one speaks about it," he said.
He added that while economic growth can help in achieving development, it needs to be accompanied by public action.
"If we talk about health, India is way behind even Bangladesh despite being economically ahead of it. And that is because of lack of public action in India compared to Bangladesh.
"Similarly public action is crucial for education, nutrition, social security, ensuring equality, and environmental protection," he said.
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Misuse of power, money to control election mechanism seen during Maharashtra polls: Sharad Pawar
Pune (PTI): NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday claimed the misuse of power and money to control the entire election mechanism, which was never before seen in any state assembly or national polls, was witnessed in Maharashtra.
Pawar made the statement when he visited senior activist Dr Baba Adhav, who is protesting against the alleged "misuse of EVMs" in the recent state polls in Maharashtra.
Adhav, who is in his 90s, began his three-day protest at Phule Wada, the residence of social reformer Jyotiba Phule, in the city on Thursday.
The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), have been alleging manipulation of EVMs in the recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections, which saw a landslide victory by the Mahayuti.
The Mahayuti, comprising the Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP, won 230 out of 288 assembly seats in the November 20 polls, while the MVA managed just 46 seats.Talking to reporters, Pawar said elections were conducted recently in the country, and there is a restlessness among the people about these.
Baba Adhav's agitation represents this restlessness, he said.
He said, "There is a murmur among the people that the recent polls in Maharashtra saw 'misuse of power' and 'floods of money', which was never seen in the past. Such things are heard of in local-level polls, but taking over the entire election mechanism with the help of money and misuse of power was not seen before. However, we witnessed it in Maharashtra, and people are restless now."
He added that people were recalling late socialist ideologue Jaiprakash Narayan and felt somebody should take a step forward.
"I heard Baba Adhav has taken a lead into this issue and is agitating at Phule Wada. His protest gives hope to the people, but it is not enough. A mass revolt is necessary, as the danger of the parliamentary democracy getting destroyed looms," Pawar said.
The former Union minister said those who have reins of the country in their hands are least bothered about this.
"Despite widespread discussion over it (alleged misuse of EVMs) in the country, whenever the opposition tries to raise the issue in the Parliament, they are not allowed to speak. Opposition leaders have been seeking an opportunity to speak on these issues for six days, but their demands have not been accepted even once. It shows they want to attack parliamentary democracy," he claimed.
He said Dr Adhav's protest is a fine example of someone revolting against the issue and expressed confidence that his protest will create a ripple effect.
