Gender-based equality plays a major role in a country’s overall
development and India lagged in Human Development Index, according to
Nobel laureate Prof. Amartya Sen.
He was delivering the G.L. Mehta Memorial Lecture in the Indian
Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT-B) on ‘India: A Defense and a
Critique’ on Saturday.
“The Delhi gang rape incident has done one good thing — it has brought
our attention to the issue. To all those who say rapes happen only in
cities and not in villages, I must say that they are totally unaware
about Dalit women are being raped continuously in our villages,” said
Professor Amartya Sen.
Citing the example of Bangladesh — which has put in concerted efforts to
promote gender equality — Professor Amartya Sen pointed out that the neighbouring
country Bangladesh had left India behind in all social indicators.
“The large
number of women health workers or school teachers has actually helped
[Bangladesh] them to overtake India in every aspect of Human Development
Index,” he noted.
Supporting the major role to be played by public healthcare system in
India, he said a healthy workforce was itself a necessity of
development.
India spent only 1.2% of its GDP on public health service expenditure
while China spent 2.7% and the European countries 7.9%. “Do take market
economy seriously but do not get overwhelmed with it. There is a
misconception that China took up the market economy entirely, which is
not the case. They [laid] emphasis on their public healthcare system and
the results are that they are above India.”
கருத்துகள் இல்லை:
கருத்துரையிடுக