India - Introduction

 

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Contents

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Introduction
 

India (भारत गणराज्य) is a country in South Asia. In size, it is the seventh-largest country of the world and it is the second-most populated, with over 1.2 billion people. It is the most populous democracy in the world.

Four of the world's major religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, originated here, whereas Zoroastrianism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the 1st millennium. India has been able to include all its different features in a multiform but integrated civilization. However, communal, caste and regional tensions continue to be the challenges of Indian politics, sometimes threatening its long-standing democratic and secular ethos.


In terms of nominal GDP, the Indian economy is the world's ninth-largest. And it is the fourth largest by purchasing power parity (PPP). The country has a burgeoning urban middle class and has made great strides in fields such as information technology. Its large, skilled workforce makes it a popular choice for international companies seeking to outsource work. However, it continues to face the challenges of poverty, illiteracy, corruption and inadequate public health.  The vast mass of the rural population still remains impoverished.
 


 

Graphs

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India, la piu’ grande democrazia al mondo, viene spesso ricordata per il suo alto tasso di crescita, attorno al 9% annuo. Un paese ricco di diversita’ religiose e culturali, opsita oggi anche una diverista’ molto piu’ allarmante: la diversita’ economica e solciale.
Secondo le cifre fornite dalla Banca mondiale, nel 2005, in India, la percentuale della popolazione che vive sotto la soglia della povertà e’ 41,6%. L’India rappresenta anche la più alta concentrazione al mondo di persone malnutrite; lo erano qualche anno fa il 43% dei bambini sotto l’età di cinque anni. Solo il 53% dei ragazzi indiani studiava per più di 5 anni e si registra ancora oggi un numero maggiore di poveri in solo otto degli stati indiani che in tutta l’Africa sub-sahariana.
Amartya Sen, un noto economista di origine Indiana, ha affermato che l’India dovrebbe smetterla di essere ossessionata dal desiderio di superare i tassi di sviluppo economico cinesi, in quel senso mondiali, e che appare stupido aspirare a una crescita annuale a due cifre senza che venga affrontato il problema della sottonutrizione cronica di decine di milioni di indiani.
Il pil, ricorda Sen, può non essere un buon indicatore della qualità della vita. Lo studioso afferma, d’altro canto, che egli non disprezza certo in generale la crescita economica, ma che essa non dovrebbe essere secondo lui l’obiettivo ultimo di tutto l’esercizio. Quello che appare importante, afferma Sen, è soprattutto ciò che facciamo con i frutti dello sviluppo. Attualmente tale processo va sostanzialmente a favore dei più ricchi e privilegiati.
Mahatma Gandhi disse “Devo confessare che non faccio una netta o alcuna distinzione fra economia ed etica”. Il caso indiano mette di nuovo con forza in discussione la relazione che ci deve essere tra sviluppo economico e lotta contro la povertà e la diseguaglianza. Cosa vuol dire per la più grande democrazia del mondo avere uno sviluppo sostenibile? E quali sono i progetti e i fattori che possono avviare questo processo?
 


Statistics 

complete data at - https://spreadsheets3.google.com/pub?hl=en&hl=en&key=0AnjANqe7Hsl3dHdwejRYYkpLd3FUSjZBdmdZZlhDY1E&output=html

data from mgds.un.org (official UN site for MDG indicators)

MDG 1

1.5 Employment-to-population ratio, both sexes, percentage - In 2008, 55.6%

1.8 Children under 5 moderately or severely underweight, percentage - In 2005,  47.8%

1.9 Population undernourished, percentage - In 2005, 22.025%

MDG 2

2.1 Net enrollment ratio in primary education (both sexes), percentage - In 2007, 95.5%

MDG 3

3.1 Ratios of girls to boys in:

3.2 Share of women in wage employment in the non-agricultural sector, percentage - In 2005, 18.1%

3.3 Proportion of seats held by women in national parliament, percentage - In 2010, 10.8%

MDG 4

4.1 Children under five mortality rate per 1,000 live births - In 2009, 65.6%

4.2 Infant mortality rate (0-1 year) per 1,000 live births - In 2008, 52%

4.3 Children 1 year old immunized against measles, percentage - In 2008, 70%

MDG 5

5.1 Maternal mortality ratio per 100,000 live births - In 2008, 230

5.2 Proportion of births attended by skilled health personnel, percentage - In 2003, 46.6% 5.4 Adolescent birth rate, per 1,000 women - In 2006, 45.2%

5.6 Unmet need for family planning, total, percentage - In 2008, 12.8%

MDG6

6.1 People living with HIV, 15-49 years old, percentage - In 2007, 0.3%

6.2 Condom use at last high-risk sex

6.3 Proportion of population aged 15-24 years with comprehensive correct knowledge of HIV/AIDS:

6.6 Incidence and death rates associated with malaria

6.8 Proportion of children under 5 with fever who are treated with appropriate anti-malarial drugs, percentage - In 2006, 8.2 6.9 Tuberculosis death rate per year per 100,000 population (mid-point) - In 2009, 27

6.10 Proportion of tuberculosis cases detected and cured under directly observed treatment short course, percentage - In 2009, 37%

MDG 7

7.1 Proportion of land area covered by forest, percentage - In 2005, 22.8% 7.2 *Carbon dioxide emissions:


 

Interviews


 
Testimonials

A.K. Shiva Kumar, China comparison The comparison with China is always important and interesting, but always on the economic growth rates. I feel that is a very futile race. In terms of per capital income the per capita income of China is three times that of India’s. So in term of per capita income we are not going to catch up with China so quickly. But can we match China in terms of what the old Chinese system achieved in terms of Health and Education. They have universal schooling; according to the last census 300 million Indians could not read and write out of which 200 million were women. The infant mortality rate is half of that reported by India.


MDG Statistics of India India has a child malnutrition rate of 45%, that’s is twice that of children in sub-Saharan Africa. Sub Saharan Africa reports a under nutrition rate of 20 to 30%. If you look at Indian states we are reporting between 20 to 60%, the average is 45% of children under 5 are underweight.


So why is this happening, is it because India does not have resources? Is it the shortage of food? No. If you look at the per capita income of many African countries and you look at the per capita income of India and the growth rate records, India is much better. In this very region, Bangladesh, a country which is growing less faster than India and has a lower per capita income, has a mortality rate lower than India’s.